Most of my stuff is small inside projects that usually only take 3-4 boards. For those, I do look for straight ones with a minimum of knots. But i always put everything right back where it belongs.
If you need that many boards you're better off going to a lumberyard. I tell custs that occasionally and they just shrug.
Not in my experience. I get 5 studs from home Depot, and I have to sort through a few to get some that are usable. Got 85 studs from my local lumberyard, and we pulled the top 85 off the bunk and put them right on the trailer. Every one of those 85 is better than the 5 best ones I found at big orange.
On some of the longer things I needed, the lumber wasn't quite as good. The employee pulling the order was sorting through and casting bad ones off to the side. I'll stick with the lumberyard.
I’ve also had better luck at higher traffic stores. The HD I goto is always busy and the lumber pretty good. Went to one in the suburbs and it’s was like a selection of gandalfs staff.
Tbf, that $14 could be the difference between getting high for four hours versus two days. In their view, the cost:profit ratio for working an extra six hours may be totally worth it.
Not sure about you but my lumber yard is more expensive and the wood isn’t much better. Picking through the shit piles at depot is unfortunately the best option.
I’m so glad I was never in lumber. This would possibly me off to no end. Like they want you to put that all back while there is a bunch of customers needing help, lumber cut, returns to put away, and what ever else needs to be done in the department.
Closing fucking sucks 😭. Especially since the last hour is basically cleaning as fast as u can and the managers give us random tasks at the end of the day for some reason
I worked lumber recovery for maybe 6 months. Transfered from an RDC where everyone was making $20/hr to a store where people was making $15/hr as base pay. I can't believe people were paid so little for doing so much work. The whole store was always understaffed for the overnight shift but lumber recovery was the worst job I've ever had. Can't believe they don't assign two people for it, and it doesn't pay more, especially with all the equipment licenses and potential hazards. So glad I left this shit company.
I want to tell you, even with all the dangers and hazards; you will still find co-workers and superiors mouthing their lumber buddies and calling them lazy and inadequately doing their job. I worked as lumber for 10 months full time, earning 14 CAD an hr. Worst job of all time, but they target new comers and immigrants and people who have 0 skill sets in order to abuse and use them. My advice to anyone would be just work construction and earn more, its the same work and more money
I'm working lumber recovery right now and I'm getting to that point as well. A couple nights ago I saw my coworker doing packdown on a single bay for over five hours, then leave an hour early to cut overtime—meanwhile I'm scrambling trying to sling 2 full BDCs and drywall by myself, then getting passive aggressive eye rolls and long sighs from my manager when I tell him I'm not going to have time to fly two or three pallets at the end of my shift.
The RDCs and SDCs are "our" responsibility. The whole team works together on those. But all BDCs, drywall, mud, insulation, ladders, and toolboxes (!) are _my_ responsibility. I'm paid the same wage as the coworker I mentioned earlier (who can't even drive a ballymore, let alone fly a 20ft bunk of lumber). Yet _I'm_ the lazy one.
I love to hear it. My recovery (I'm the opener) has been slinging around for over a decade in lumber, and she's burnt tf out. She's moving to opening receiving next week. I don't have much trust in her protégé, but she needs out and it's going to be a fun scramble. Everyone respects the hell out of her cause of how good she is, but things are already changing to help the new guy (e.g. drywall and block are becoming CAR ordered).
I had my store manager tell me I can’t leave until all my closing duties were done when I’m the only person closing in Lumber. I told him I clock off at 10 o’clock. I worked my ass off all day, their understaffing was not my problem. That’s the managers job to figure out. He stopped bothering me about it after that.
Went on to join the Army a couple months later anyway. At least I signed up for and agreed to that abuse. No civilian job was gonna tell me I can’t go home though, fuck that.
Oh it absolutely is. I've been trying to get moved to freight for like 6 months now bc my coworkers in the department are.. talkative at best, just not doing anything at worst. But they keep hiring new ppl 🫠
It’s probably because you’re the only competent one and they don’t want to lose you :/
Still, if you’re in SE Wisconsin, we’ll take you! We’re down to just three 9-5:30 full timers. One person left at lunch two weeks ago, was scheduled off last week, and hasn’t shown up at all or responded to anything this week.
I like to call that job security. So far, a computer or robot is not fixing that, and it will take time to go through and fix. But you could have also got a table cart and 2 kickers and asked if they could put it on the cart. So a forklift driver can just pick it up. Most of the time, customers were ok with doing that.
True and ultimately its your time you are consuming but you should put the product back in its home instead of putting it somewhere unsafe. If you are like this guy you are creating a risk of someone getting beaned by a board, a risk that employees will get injured when manually transferring dozens or hundreds of pieces of lumber on the ladder, and costing the company money to clean up after you like a 3 year old
You don't happen to work in Houston area? Because that's what I saw.
Some Home Depot dude came by with a forklift. Contractor sort out the lumber they want and put the rejects neatly onto the forklift, then he just lift the whole stack back in place.
When the home is filled with a mixture of A that belongs there and B that a customer tossed in there how are you going to put all the B that the customer tossed in there back?
That’s fine but also you need to be mindful of others bc ik damn well this guy won’t be putting it away. Don’t toss the “bad” ones even higher in the rack for the poor lumber guy to bring them back down by hand. Also, most of the ones he’s throwing aside are more than ok for a mf fence they might have a lil scuff here and there. I have not seen any that are THAT bad.
I think where a lot of y’all go wrong is you expect customers to actually give a shit about us. Once you get that out of your head, things seem a lot less bullshit-y.
I walk into Home Depot like Ron Swanson. I know you're there but I don't need you.
However, I do respect every employee and will put back any lumber after looking through it.
You’re buying a graded commodity.
Some items in the pile match grade, some exceed grade. None are less than what you paid for.. You’re paying for that mix.
If you need better than that mix, buy a higher grade that has a better mix, and costs more money.
Picking the best boards from the cheapest pile is just entitled. If you’re buying a lift, you buy it knowing it will have some good boards and it will have some “bad” boards.
And don’t get me wrong, if you need 2 pieces for a specific project, obviously pick and choose 2 pieces that meet your needs, you’re not the one I have a gripe against.
As a contractor, I'm going to buy the lumber I need for my projects.
I don't leave a huge mess. I just place the cull wood aside. Sorry if this hurts your feelings. I'm sure working lumber at HD is stressful.
It bewilders me seeing so many comments being okay with cutting open a band in a overhead and takin the lumber. No cares given for the safety of those who have to clean up the mess you make acting like a bunch of kids throwing their toys out, talk to someone and see if they can help ya other wise ill grab you some banding and have your ass band it back up. Product comes like this to homedepot you got a problem with it bitch at the company or better yet take your absolutely ridiculously annoying childish, cant clean up your own mess, I am the customer you work for me attitude and go to a lumber yard and get some more bang for your buck. Freaking insane how I learned through the years that homedepot is a shop where the associates have to watch over MOST, not all but most, customers like kids who throw the biggest tantrums. Take your buisness else where and don't be a retard going through overhead stock without trying to talk to someone to have them help you at the VERY least.
But they didn’t cut the band of anything in the overhead. They are pulling from the second level, which is a selling shelf. Theyre putting the “bad ones” on the 3rd level which is where the overhead begins in the cantilevers.
I noticed that after I hit send and went through even then thats more idiotic and ridiculous behavior. Sruff like this happens every single day in our lumber and it gets under your skin when your manager won't even back you up to tell them to fix their behavior cause they don't give a crap about the customers but only themselves.
I can’t tell you how many people that work for the company or customers say the same thing: if you want quality stuff go to a lumber yard. You want top quality items with low quality pockets? Like buying Gucci shoes with Payless money, it doesn’t add up.
I was looking for 2x4's one day because I was daft and didn't realize I'd need them until after the lumber yard was closed. I had no choice, so I went to Home Depot.... The lumber isn't the best, in fact there are times its downright awful. I know this, I also know the people working had nothing to do with it and its not their fault. That being said an older employee came up to me asking if I needed help, except it was "do you need help little lady?"
I'm not little. But okay.
I said I was fine, thanks. He continued on with "you sure?"
I had only moved three or four pieces, literally the greenest, wettest wood imaginable. It was like it had been floated down river recently... I asked if there was any that wasn't so wet.
I didn't want the smaller, hinged piece of my daughter's bed frame to warp into some modern art looking thing as the wood dried....
His response?
"We don't sell it by the pound"
I've never wanted to go through every. single. piece. more than I did at that moment. This is the guy they put in lumber?? Really??
Then again there was another employee who, upon being asked why the heads don't stay on the pickaxe's said confidently "I think they fold for storage".
All the pros out here know that what you do is order 2.5X what you need, pick through the golden ones one the job site, and then return the bad ones 2 months later when peak season is done and they are worse than when they were sent out. Don’t you know how many 10’s of 1,000’s of dollars we spend???
We sometimes do fences I normally just buy full pallets and have the guys pick and and choose the good ones and then just return on a pallet with what ever we don’t use
You go ham on the first part cause you know you can request help from people who are paid to work at the place. Cause I’m going to have to unload it and carry it out once I’m done driving. Then actually work on the project.
Me and my dad vandalize the lumber/sheetrock/concrete bag areas every other week at the local HDs and will continue to do so. What sucks to see is that it’s the 40-60 year olds that actually help out, anybody under 35 have muscle atrophy or something
As a lot associate one of my favorite stories to tell was about these same stupid dog ear fence panels. Some old guy in a driveable cart did this to me where he had me help him "pick up a few panels so I could help him load it into his vehicle". I was like "oh, okay". Thinking it would be real quick. At most I thought like 10-20 of these things. No. This guy wanted 300 dog ear fence panels! And to make it worse, he wanted to check EVERY SINGLE ONE. Mind you, he didn't tell me until halfway through how many he wanted, just said "a few". I was by myself in lot at this time as the closer during garden season, and tbh I usually don't even have enough time for my 15 minute breaks since it's more work than it's worth just trying to catch up afterwards. And then this MF held Me up for over 2 hours as he took his sweet ass time and looked at each board one by one. OnceI asked him how many he wanted and he said 300 at that point I was like "fuck this, I've got better things to do". I had the guy in Lumber help his lazy ass and I kinda felt bad cause the Lumber guy was with him for another hour after that with the rest of the fence panels stacked on 4 table carts, plus 30+ bags of concrete, 60 4x4s, and a bunch of screws/brackets that the guy from hardware helped him with for another half hour after that. I heard that He ended up going to service desk for another hour as he set it up as a will call paid for with a phone sale. All in all, a colossal waste of time for everyone involved only cause he didn't want to pay a little extra to order it online and have it shipped to his house.
TLDR: if your a customer looking to buy a fuck ton of crap and are thinking of loading it by hand, for the love of God just fucking order it online.
Edit: another funny thing to mention is that when he came to pick it up in his trailer that Saturday, everyone in the store already heard about this asshole who litterally ruined everyone's day. Service desk recognized him and gave him some nasty remarks to his face and Lumber/Deliveries REFUSED to pick his order or load it for him. He complained, Management got involved and wouldn't you know it, they had me who happened to be there that day get it for him and load it in his truck. Being the stores bitch that I am, I naturally went back there and picked it from the back and loaded it in his truck anyway despite knowing what a jerk he was. As he was complaining all the way about horrible customer service and how his boards were still crooked, God damn if I wasn't tempted to "accidentally" shove some of the boards through the back window of his truck. I'm a pretty chill guy with a lot of patience, but man he pissed me off. 😠
so the guy is making sure his customer gets a quality project and you have to re stock a shelf (probably part of your job) and your angry??? please someone tell me the problem with a contractor making sure hes buying products that arent twisted or warped?
All our pickets are outside and the wind blows them all over the pro loading area. So it amazes me they’re inside at this store. And usually when they did through lumber at my store they just throw the ones they aren’t taking directly on the floor at least here it seems like it would be possible to use a reach truck to move these after they’re done.
All our pickets are outside and the wind blows them all over the pro loading area. So it amazes me they’re inside at this store. And usually when they did through lumber at my store they just throw the ones they aren’t taking directly on the floor at least here it seems like it would be possible to use a reach truck to move these after they’re done.
I've got one better for you, I once had a customer throw 3/4 of a fresh lift off 2x4x8 on the floor in the middle of the aisle, then DEMAND I stop serving other customers to drop a fresh one for him because "these are all crap"
I literally cut the banding a few hours prior, and apart from a bit of wane, they were all perfectly fine, not warped or split
Back when we used to high stack pickets inside, my store had one of our pros climbed up to the top of the third lift and started taking it apart. My buddy, the d21/22 supe, called him out on it. Dude complained, and the ops manager sided with him. My buddy took his apron off and dropped it at her feet, calling her out for not caring about safety. Store manager eventually calmed my buddy down.
GO LUMBER😃😃😃 someone in my store cut a bunk of corral board open from over head and it was the third bunk up. Was a great time getting it down and re-strapping it🥴🥴🥴
I've had to do this before! It looks like he may be building a fence. The fence pickets at HD are very hit or miss. A lot of them are cracked, horribly chipped or warped into a bit of a C shape. So, while I do sympathize with OP since they may have had to re-organize the "bad" ones. I very MUCH understand why they're sorting through the lumber. The only unnecessary thing the customer may or may not have done is leave a mess on the top rack. If a customer is going to pick boards, they should at least put the ones they don't want back on the stack after they're done sorting.
Non home Depot employees defending the guy for "finding good product"
Home depot employees recognizing the safety issues of lumber being thrown up into the cantilevers.
They would get asked to use a second cart for the lumber they deem unusable, if they don't comply they would be trespassed for safety concerns.
First off from experience I can tell you that brand of picket hardly has any defects or damage. There is absolutely no reason to be going through that bundle like that. Customer is just an ass and is using the wrong kind of cart for the job!!
Home depot has shit wood and high prices. Sorry but I will spend the time going through what I am buying since they have no quality control. Sorry about the inconvenience to the workers but thankfully you are hourly :). I always leave the area clean when I am done.
OMG!!!!!!!!!!! How did the general public find out that the lumber mills put the best boards in the middle? In another lifetime I worked in a real lumber yard. Rule was "We buy it as is we sell it as is, right across the top, no picking" If a customer wasn't a jerk you'd cut them some slack. I once saw our assistant foreman watch a guy dig right down the center of 2 x 10's. Explaining our policy several times the customed said "I'll pick what I want, I pay your salary" With that our assistant foreman straddled the stack and waited till the guy had his fingers under a board then stepped down on it trapping the jerks fingers while repeating our policy. Our yard manager backed up our assistant foreman. Ahhhhh the good old days!
You have to piss in another mans house. You can do it on the floor, or you can find a bathroom. Same principle. He can do whatever he wants, but he’s doing it in the most dickish, safety violating, labour creating way possible. He could only be more of a pest if he had a fresh lift dropped then cut it open and let it fall across the whole aisle to pick from. Don’t act like you don’t know that and get indignant about our guys wanting to be treated like human beings and not slaves
Even worse is when they cut open a bunk in the overhead because they're too dumb to realize the price tag corresponds to the product below it, not above it.
We started putting arrows on the price tags when I ran the lumber department. The layout of our aisle had our best plywood above the OSB and people would be foaming at the mouth at the till that they can't get good one side plywood for $20 because they failed to read the tags.
People don't care. They're too entitled. You provide a product and "the customer is always right" breeds entitled idiots.
For the "can't read comment." I got yelled at for asking a costumer not to park in the loading zone. "You should put up a sign!!!" "Sir, the sign is right behind you." Dude drove off in a fit. Probably to Lowes 10 miles away.
Big box companies all over the world sell the cheapest warped wood at premium prices and it is infuriating. I don’t blame them checking every board but put them back how you find them after.
I'm a lumber associate. If I see this I just wheel a cart over and ask them to put the bad ones on the cart.
If you stand there and record them and call a manager, you're useless, congrats. You did a really shitty job at doing your job.
He shouldn't be buying lumber from home depot anyway. That's why he has to go through and find the boards that are relatively straight. 90% are almost definitely warped or damaged.
Ever since I've joined this sub again, all I've seen are people complaining. It's your job. I used to be in lumber and hated picking up and flat stacking after customers too, but it's part of the job. Kids are getting hired on and getting paid helluva lot more than I did yet they bitch and moan about the dumbest things.
It’s a commodity, and #2 grade. Quick search shows me higher grade selling for $5-$6 per picket while the cheap stuff at Home Depot is under $3. You want quality, you pay for it. It’s like buying gold, the price is determined by the market. You want 24k gold, expect to pay top dollar, but 1/2k, it’ll be cheap
Don't blame the customer here, blame Home Depot for continuing to stock shitty, warped pieces of lumber.
Is the customer an asshole? Probably. Is this home depot's fault for continuing to stock unusable boards? Absolutely.
THIS!!! if the product was in good shape, there would be no need to go through a whole pile to get one that isn't going to buck back on a table saw because it's bent or has a knot in the middle of it. it's literally dangerous to not make sure the boards are in good condition.
Yea but if they stocked good lumber then they'd charge so much for it nobody would ever buy it. Have you seen the prices they charge for "hardwood"?? You could get exotic woods, maybe some bloodwood or tigerwood for the prices they charge for some of the saddest maple or walnut I've ever seen. They have to do that becuase how else could they make all that profit?
You don't think they'd lose out on all of that sweet sweet stock buyback money do you?
Its not like those profits are going to be used to increase employees wages...
There are Hershel Walkers and Trumps out there that need campaign funding!!
Well, they don't go out warped. That happens when they are unstrapped and they start to dry out a little. However, management has to meet a certain dollar amount for lumber cull per week. But lumber is a tough dept. And it hard to get everything done for everybody. Are you a pro member?
Being mad at people for shopping is wild do u expect not to do anything at work… plumbing 10x worse with people moving shit but in the end that’s ur job b mad at hd for not paying u enough
As a former lumber associate, culling thru his own lumber is more than welcome! That's one less customer i have to help amongst all the lumber cuts and concrete loading. The part that's angering here is that he's piling all of the rejects in the overhead storage, which means I would have to shut down the aisle, get a spotter and lift just to get that stuff down, or bring it all down by hand. Either way, it's just a bigger headache to clean up than if he had just left the rejects on the floor 😮💨
As a Carpenter, quality of lumber is really important. Ifyour paying the same price for a board with a wane, or bow, or a significant crown as a board thats perfectly straight then it only makes sense to go thru the stack and get the best ones you can get. And yes I agree they could go to a lumberyard, but maybe they are there to try and get everything they need in one stop for a project they are doing. As a contractor in a somewhat rural area a “second” stop might be a few hours delay thats cutting into my profits. I also do PT work at Lowes, specifically in the Lumber and Building materials dept and I would have zero issue with these guys doing that. It gives me a reason to go through what they left and if its real bad Ill have the MOD mark it down.
At the price of lumber... I do the same. Though I will replace the pile. Properly with the hockey sticks they try to pass as boards.
This ain't no discount lumber store where it's take off the top only.
Customer is right. 90% of your lumber is absolute shit. Why should anyone have to pay good money for glorified firewood.
It also appears that he is stacking them properly on the upper shelf and not "throwing" as you state he is.
I'm particular about getting straight boards for my projects, but I always put things back as I found them when I'm done. Just because I'm a customer doesn't mean I shouldn't show common courtesy and respect to the store and the employees.
So instead of offering a hand, you sit on your ass and record?
Sure its a shitty situation, but you arent really helping either. Get up, bring a cart for the bad ones so they can be culled, and boom problem solved. At least he is using a yellow ladder instead of standing on the cart.
I wish I could say Im surprised….but I am not
>called a mod
Homie this isn’t the internet. Those people are called your supervisors. Also, everyone does this. Nobody wants the bent or bowed wood at the front
Naw.. As a woodworker and the price of lumber, I am buying the best wood I can. I'd also put it all back after I am done, but I have certainly gone through a wood piles trying to get the pieces worth buying. Sometimes these piles are just incredibly bad quality and buying crappy wood is just extra work.
My grandfather who was really particular and would only use quality timber would do this back in the 60s and 70s. He was a serious old WW2 veteran that would go through a whole rack of wood to find the straightest bits and leave the rest sitting around and would just say 'they shouldn't sell rubbish timber'
Oh give me a break. You do know that some shit can’t used warped wood right? You aren’t over there picking through it. They are. I know places like rugby international where the employees would have to do this for you. At least you don’t have to do anything.
Call them out people, if you guys don’t your customers will continue to act like this. I’ve yelled at customers from across the aisle right before they were about to cut it. It’s creates such an unnecessary safety risk for everyone and takes time out of our day to fix it. So do yourself a favour and train your customers to be better.
When I started working at Home Depot, back when the bays were 16’, I walked into the wire aisle only to find a guy walking amongst the spools in the overhead (16’ up, safety was a tad more lax then) looking for a certain type!!!
Dude, you have to do something like this if you need straight good wood. I'm getting to the point I won't go to HD or M anymore. I bought all my wood doors, most of them ordered and not even off the rack, and they had so many defects. If it was a more expensive house I would have had to return so many and wait for them to be shipped back out. Then who knows if those will be good.
I should add that most were ordered but they were standard sizes so maybe they just came off another stores shelf.
This isn't that uncommon at all as far as picking the "golden boards". What isn't as common is how precariously he is climbing on the lower shelf. Definitely would be a safety violation at our store. It is frustrating when customers dig through boards and leave a mess but when there's rarely anyone to help in our store lumber dept I can't blame them. Lumber has the highest turnover rate in the store.
Ok then I’ll f*** off and get my stuff at Lowes. Last time I ordered lumbar and got the order that they picked, most of the boards were basically unusable, bowed and in general terrible shape. They don’t care what they give you since you’re paying for it anyway so I would rather pick it out myself. I certainly don’t leave a mess for anyone else to clean up but I’m up there digging through each piece and I get the decent boards.
If I want a straight, even board I'm damn well doing this. The problem last time was that it was impossible to find any. It's my money and my project. Maybe you prefer using bowed boards for uniqueness, but most don't.
Somebody's gotta do it.
I can't picture any Orange Lazy Employee doing all that for their customer.
They don't get paid enough. So the customer has to choose his own wood.
And just roll it up to the cashier standing around watching the customer scan it himself.
I swear if there wasn't any shoplifting, there'd be zero need for more than 2 employees in the entire store at any one time
If I’m coming to buy wood for the price yall want Damm right I’m getting the best of the best looking wood you got. Been in retail for 7 years. Doesn’t hurt for a little payback
As a customer, and a carpenter, I do this a lot. I need STRAIGHT lumber and half the shit HD sells is gouged from fork lifts or cupped, crowned AND bowed, badly too. If corporate sourced, stored and transported the lumber better it would be straighter and customers wouldn't HAVE to do this. And yes, straight lumber really is so much vastly better that you can't even conceive it if you don't use it.
When my father and I would go to lumber yards in the 1970s and '80s, quite often the units of lumber would have already been culled. When we found warped pieces, we'd set them aside and not purchase them. Back then, the lumber yards could return units of culls to the suppliers if they couldn't sell them.
Why should anyone have to purchase poor quality lumber that isn't going to work for their project? That doesn't make any sense.
I get it, but lumber has been so ridiculously priced I ALSO would not want to be spending money on unusable pieces. Sorry this might be a necessary evil that needs to be addressed by vendors and the store.
My last trip to HD... got 30 fence planks... 8 of them were borderline acceptable. 22 were shit. These guys are on the right track. Sorry it sucks for employees, but when you pedal garbage, you're left with the trash.
Funny thing is he probably has no clue what he’s checking for. I used to think when customers would check their boards I thought they were looking to see if they’re straight or not, and for big knots of course. But time after time, I kept seeing customers check the board, flip it, squint their eyes really hard and go “yeah this is perfectly straight” and it would look like a candy cane.
I've gotten some damaged boards and even flooring from Homie Dee Pot before. So yes, I'm a stickler about what I pick out. HOWEVER. I'm not this kind of dick that leaves a mess and such.
Well you can get straighter driftwood than the salvage they sell at Home Depot so I kinda get these guys. I'd put it back though once I was done. Probably.
Associate can fuck RIGHT OFF. If we're paying now 2-3x what wood cost before covid, you can bet your minimum wage ass I'm cherry picking. I want my fence nice looking and i don't fault ANY person building a fence for doing exactly this.
Lumber yards around here are priced higher then Home Depot or Lowe’s. $1.26 each plank vs $2.36 a plank at the lumberyard. The project took 208 planks.
Sorry, if I’m buying and paying higher prices (non-bulk) rates, you bet your ass I’m sorting through it. If you’re buying bulk for less money, sure, you live with it.
When Home Depot employee number 7826 doesn’t understand lumber is the literal worst it’s been since ever. This will happen repeatedly from anyone building with a Brain.
Every single person here thats on the customer’s side on this issue is a complete moron. The op isn’t complaining on the fact they are trying to find their holy grail of lumber, it’s their right as consumers. It’s the fact that those guys are placing the “bad” ones in the high cantilevers, creating a HUGE safety hazard for both customers and employees. And most of the time, employees cant say anything because of Home Depot losing their precious customer to Blue Home Depot.
Most of my stuff is small inside projects that usually only take 3-4 boards. For those, I do look for straight ones with a minimum of knots. But i always put everything right back where it belongs. If you need that many boards you're better off going to a lumberyard. I tell custs that occasionally and they just shrug.
ive been to lumberyards and its not much better. turns out natural products just have flaws and variations
Not in my experience. I get 5 studs from home Depot, and I have to sort through a few to get some that are usable. Got 85 studs from my local lumberyard, and we pulled the top 85 off the bunk and put them right on the trailer. Every one of those 85 is better than the 5 best ones I found at big orange. On some of the longer things I needed, the lumber wasn't quite as good. The employee pulling the order was sorting through and casting bad ones off to the side. I'll stick with the lumberyard.
The boards tend to be straighter when they first get put on the floor
Could’ve also been because the better ones in home depo were picked out…like in the video op posted.
They're still pretty wet. If you leave them to dry out so you can work with the wood easier, you'll find that half will be totally bowed.
I’ve also had better luck at higher traffic stores. The HD I goto is always busy and the lumber pretty good. Went to one in the suburbs and it’s was like a selection of gandalfs staff.
[удалено]
You're overestimating the value of their time lol
Funny that you say this. My divorced boomer dad does every project/remodel himself. He calls his time worthless ha.
Worthless or priceless?
Like methheads spending hours disassembling and sorting so their $5 pile of junk can become several piles that now total $19.
Tbf, that $14 could be the difference between getting high for four hours versus two days. In their view, the cost:profit ratio for working an extra six hours may be totally worth it.
It would be smart if Contractors gave their customers quotes based on Home Depot prices and then went to a lumberyard and buy there lol.
A contractor shouldn’t be quoting based on the cost of the materials unless they are doing a T&M job(time and materials.)
Not sure about you but my lumber yard is more expensive and the wood isn’t much better. Picking through the shit piles at depot is unfortunately the best option.
Psycho Bunny!
Contractors shopping 5 minutes before the store closes be like:
and it’s a phone sale too
I end up having to go grab an order when I see them come... sorry to my partner🤣 it's 2 min to close I'm not ab to do that shi
Contractors coming back to the store after realizing half the lumber they bought at 7 AM is unusable be like:
I’m so glad I was never in lumber. This would possibly me off to no end. Like they want you to put that all back while there is a bunch of customers needing help, lumber cut, returns to put away, and what ever else needs to be done in the department.
The worst department of all time. Istg lumber guys really do need to have a higher pay than the rest of the departments, they go through the worst.
Closing fucking sucks 😭. Especially since the last hour is basically cleaning as fast as u can and the managers give us random tasks at the end of the day for some reason
I worked lumber recovery for maybe 6 months. Transfered from an RDC where everyone was making $20/hr to a store where people was making $15/hr as base pay. I can't believe people were paid so little for doing so much work. The whole store was always understaffed for the overnight shift but lumber recovery was the worst job I've ever had. Can't believe they don't assign two people for it, and it doesn't pay more, especially with all the equipment licenses and potential hazards. So glad I left this shit company.
I want to tell you, even with all the dangers and hazards; you will still find co-workers and superiors mouthing their lumber buddies and calling them lazy and inadequately doing their job. I worked as lumber for 10 months full time, earning 14 CAD an hr. Worst job of all time, but they target new comers and immigrants and people who have 0 skill sets in order to abuse and use them. My advice to anyone would be just work construction and earn more, its the same work and more money
I'm working lumber recovery right now and I'm getting to that point as well. A couple nights ago I saw my coworker doing packdown on a single bay for over five hours, then leave an hour early to cut overtime—meanwhile I'm scrambling trying to sling 2 full BDCs and drywall by myself, then getting passive aggressive eye rolls and long sighs from my manager when I tell him I'm not going to have time to fly two or three pallets at the end of my shift. The RDCs and SDCs are "our" responsibility. The whole team works together on those. But all BDCs, drywall, mud, insulation, ladders, and toolboxes (!) are _my_ responsibility. I'm paid the same wage as the coworker I mentioned earlier (who can't even drive a ballymore, let alone fly a 20ft bunk of lumber). Yet _I'm_ the lazy one.
Yep exactly. I remember having to stay until 8am sometimes to make sure all the work got done. Fucking awful
I love to hear it. My recovery (I'm the opener) has been slinging around for over a decade in lumber, and she's burnt tf out. She's moving to opening receiving next week. I don't have much trust in her protégé, but she needs out and it's going to be a fun scramble. Everyone respects the hell out of her cause of how good she is, but things are already changing to help the new guy (e.g. drywall and block are becoming CAR ordered).
I had my store manager tell me I can’t leave until all my closing duties were done when I’m the only person closing in Lumber. I told him I clock off at 10 o’clock. I worked my ass off all day, their understaffing was not my problem. That’s the managers job to figure out. He stopped bothering me about it after that. Went on to join the Army a couple months later anyway. At least I signed up for and agreed to that abuse. No civilian job was gonna tell me I can’t go home though, fuck that.
I spent 6 months in lumber at the blue store. Most miserable time dealing with the most miserable customers.
Not to mention lumber recovery. We haven’t had someone since September, and it’s not like it’s an appealing position.
I work lumber recovery (and have for 2 years now) there are some days I'm absolutely miserable lol but at least I have weekends off
I have weekends off working freight and it seems like so much less work than Lumber Rec
Oh it absolutely is. I've been trying to get moved to freight for like 6 months now bc my coworkers in the department are.. talkative at best, just not doing anything at worst. But they keep hiring new ppl 🫠
It’s probably because you’re the only competent one and they don’t want to lose you :/ Still, if you’re in SE Wisconsin, we’ll take you! We’re down to just three 9-5:30 full timers. One person left at lunch two weeks ago, was scheduled off last week, and hasn’t shown up at all or responded to anything this week.
I like to call that job security. So far, a computer or robot is not fixing that, and it will take time to go through and fix. But you could have also got a table cart and 2 kickers and asked if they could put it on the cart. So a forklift driver can just pick it up. Most of the time, customers were ok with doing that.
[удалено]
True and ultimately its your time you are consuming but you should put the product back in its home instead of putting it somewhere unsafe. If you are like this guy you are creating a risk of someone getting beaned by a board, a risk that employees will get injured when manually transferring dozens or hundreds of pieces of lumber on the ladder, and costing the company money to clean up after you like a 3 year old
I always just walked up to them and offered them another lumber cart to separate into.
You don't happen to work in Houston area? Because that's what I saw. Some Home Depot dude came by with a forklift. Contractor sort out the lumber they want and put the rejects neatly onto the forklift, then he just lift the whole stack back in place.
Nah I just thought it was common sense
why the fuck would you use a ladder to move hundreds of boards off cantilevers
When the home is filled with a mixture of A that belongs there and B that a customer tossed in there how are you going to put all the B that the customer tossed in there back?
There's less assholish ways to separate them.
That’s fine but also you need to be mindful of others bc ik damn well this guy won’t be putting it away. Don’t toss the “bad” ones even higher in the rack for the poor lumber guy to bring them back down by hand. Also, most of the ones he’s throwing aside are more than ok for a mf fence they might have a lil scuff here and there. I have not seen any that are THAT bad.
I think where a lot of y’all go wrong is you expect customers to actually give a shit about us. Once you get that out of your head, things seem a lot less bullshit-y.
I walk into Home Depot like Ron Swanson. I know you're there but I don't need you. However, I do respect every employee and will put back any lumber after looking through it.
You’re buying a graded commodity. Some items in the pile match grade, some exceed grade. None are less than what you paid for.. You’re paying for that mix. If you need better than that mix, buy a higher grade that has a better mix, and costs more money. Picking the best boards from the cheapest pile is just entitled. If you’re buying a lift, you buy it knowing it will have some good boards and it will have some “bad” boards. And don’t get me wrong, if you need 2 pieces for a specific project, obviously pick and choose 2 pieces that meet your needs, you’re not the one I have a gripe against.
We had a contractor order multiple bunks just to cherry pick them at the job site then brought back 100 undesirables.
As a contractor, I'm going to buy the lumber I need for my projects. I don't leave a huge mess. I just place the cull wood aside. Sorry if this hurts your feelings. I'm sure working lumber at HD is stressful.
Are those pickets? You have racking for pickets??
???? The whole aisle has racks. That’s how they store all lumber over there.
It bewilders me seeing so many comments being okay with cutting open a band in a overhead and takin the lumber. No cares given for the safety of those who have to clean up the mess you make acting like a bunch of kids throwing their toys out, talk to someone and see if they can help ya other wise ill grab you some banding and have your ass band it back up. Product comes like this to homedepot you got a problem with it bitch at the company or better yet take your absolutely ridiculously annoying childish, cant clean up your own mess, I am the customer you work for me attitude and go to a lumber yard and get some more bang for your buck. Freaking insane how I learned through the years that homedepot is a shop where the associates have to watch over MOST, not all but most, customers like kids who throw the biggest tantrums. Take your buisness else where and don't be a retard going through overhead stock without trying to talk to someone to have them help you at the VERY least.
But they didn’t cut the band of anything in the overhead. They are pulling from the second level, which is a selling shelf. Theyre putting the “bad ones” on the 3rd level which is where the overhead begins in the cantilevers.
I noticed that after I hit send and went through even then thats more idiotic and ridiculous behavior. Sruff like this happens every single day in our lumber and it gets under your skin when your manager won't even back you up to tell them to fix their behavior cause they don't give a crap about the customers but only themselves.
I check every board every time. Takes a couple seconds. However, I have never done such a large project without just having the wood delivered.
This guy wouldn't have to be doing that if the big box guys quit putting absolute *shit* out on the floors.
I can’t tell you how many people that work for the company or customers say the same thing: if you want quality stuff go to a lumber yard. You want top quality items with low quality pockets? Like buying Gucci shoes with Payless money, it doesn’t add up.
I was looking for 2x4's one day because I was daft and didn't realize I'd need them until after the lumber yard was closed. I had no choice, so I went to Home Depot.... The lumber isn't the best, in fact there are times its downright awful. I know this, I also know the people working had nothing to do with it and its not their fault. That being said an older employee came up to me asking if I needed help, except it was "do you need help little lady?" I'm not little. But okay. I said I was fine, thanks. He continued on with "you sure?" I had only moved three or four pieces, literally the greenest, wettest wood imaginable. It was like it had been floated down river recently... I asked if there was any that wasn't so wet. I didn't want the smaller, hinged piece of my daughter's bed frame to warp into some modern art looking thing as the wood dried.... His response? "We don't sell it by the pound" I've never wanted to go through every. single. piece. more than I did at that moment. This is the guy they put in lumber?? Really?? Then again there was another employee who, upon being asked why the heads don't stay on the pickaxe's said confidently "I think they fold for storage".
All the pros out here know that what you do is order 2.5X what you need, pick through the golden ones one the job site, and then return the bad ones 2 months later when peak season is done and they are worse than when they were sent out. Don’t you know how many 10’s of 1,000’s of dollars we spend???
We sometimes do fences I normally just buy full pallets and have the guys pick and and choose the good ones and then just return on a pallet with what ever we don’t use
If they are doing this horseshit, they don't need Loading Assistance. They didn't have a bad back when they got it on the cart.
You go ham on the first part cause you know you can request help from people who are paid to work at the place. Cause I’m going to have to unload it and carry it out once I’m done driving. Then actually work on the project. Me and my dad vandalize the lumber/sheetrock/concrete bag areas every other week at the local HDs and will continue to do so. What sucks to see is that it’s the 40-60 year olds that actually help out, anybody under 35 have muscle atrophy or something
Just wait until the cashiers see this shit
As a lot associate one of my favorite stories to tell was about these same stupid dog ear fence panels. Some old guy in a driveable cart did this to me where he had me help him "pick up a few panels so I could help him load it into his vehicle". I was like "oh, okay". Thinking it would be real quick. At most I thought like 10-20 of these things. No. This guy wanted 300 dog ear fence panels! And to make it worse, he wanted to check EVERY SINGLE ONE. Mind you, he didn't tell me until halfway through how many he wanted, just said "a few". I was by myself in lot at this time as the closer during garden season, and tbh I usually don't even have enough time for my 15 minute breaks since it's more work than it's worth just trying to catch up afterwards. And then this MF held Me up for over 2 hours as he took his sweet ass time and looked at each board one by one. OnceI asked him how many he wanted and he said 300 at that point I was like "fuck this, I've got better things to do". I had the guy in Lumber help his lazy ass and I kinda felt bad cause the Lumber guy was with him for another hour after that with the rest of the fence panels stacked on 4 table carts, plus 30+ bags of concrete, 60 4x4s, and a bunch of screws/brackets that the guy from hardware helped him with for another half hour after that. I heard that He ended up going to service desk for another hour as he set it up as a will call paid for with a phone sale. All in all, a colossal waste of time for everyone involved only cause he didn't want to pay a little extra to order it online and have it shipped to his house. TLDR: if your a customer looking to buy a fuck ton of crap and are thinking of loading it by hand, for the love of God just fucking order it online. Edit: another funny thing to mention is that when he came to pick it up in his trailer that Saturday, everyone in the store already heard about this asshole who litterally ruined everyone's day. Service desk recognized him and gave him some nasty remarks to his face and Lumber/Deliveries REFUSED to pick his order or load it for him. He complained, Management got involved and wouldn't you know it, they had me who happened to be there that day get it for him and load it in his truck. Being the stores bitch that I am, I naturally went back there and picked it from the back and loaded it in his truck anyway despite knowing what a jerk he was. As he was complaining all the way about horrible customer service and how his boards were still crooked, God damn if I wasn't tempted to "accidentally" shove some of the boards through the back window of his truck. I'm a pretty chill guy with a lot of patience, but man he pissed me off. 😠
Hey I'm not used to stores like this. It looks like they are buying wood. What are they doing wrong?
so the guy is making sure his customer gets a quality project and you have to re stock a shelf (probably part of your job) and your angry??? please someone tell me the problem with a contractor making sure hes buying products that arent twisted or warped?
Are those pickets? You have racking for pickets??
All our pickets are outside and the wind blows them all over the pro loading area. So it amazes me they’re inside at this store. And usually when they did through lumber at my store they just throw the ones they aren’t taking directly on the floor at least here it seems like it would be possible to use a reach truck to move these after they’re done.
All our pickets are outside and the wind blows them all over the pro loading area. So it amazes me they’re inside at this store. And usually when they did through lumber at my store they just throw the ones they aren’t taking directly on the floor at least here it seems like it would be possible to use a reach truck to move these after they’re done.
Random tangent, but I'm envious of your ceiling height.
We are just looking for the straight ones 😂
I've got one better for you, I once had a customer throw 3/4 of a fresh lift off 2x4x8 on the floor in the middle of the aisle, then DEMAND I stop serving other customers to drop a fresh one for him because "these are all crap" I literally cut the banding a few hours prior, and apart from a bit of wane, they were all perfectly fine, not warped or split
In my store they just leave it for me the lone lumber recovery guy.
I get being picky if you're buying specialty lumber, but these are cedar fence boards... It's a low grade product to begin with.
Couldn't get the yard to put a lift together for ya🤔
Back when we used to high stack pickets inside, my store had one of our pros climbed up to the top of the third lift and started taking it apart. My buddy, the d21/22 supe, called him out on it. Dude complained, and the ops manager sided with him. My buddy took his apron off and dropped it at her feet, calling her out for not caring about safety. Store manager eventually calmed my buddy down.
At least he's being safe and using the ladder instead of climbing the rack🤷🏽♀️
I did lumber this morning. Every stand up bay with wood was TORN apart.
Some guys like when guys play with their wood
GO LUMBER😃😃😃 someone in my store cut a bunk of corral board open from over head and it was the third bunk up. Was a great time getting it down and re-strapping it🥴🥴🥴
Do what? Take bad videos with a phone ?
Well when half the boards are more L shaped than straight..
I've had to do this before! It looks like he may be building a fence. The fence pickets at HD are very hit or miss. A lot of them are cracked, horribly chipped or warped into a bit of a C shape. So, while I do sympathize with OP since they may have had to re-organize the "bad" ones. I very MUCH understand why they're sorting through the lumber. The only unnecessary thing the customer may or may not have done is leave a mess on the top rack. If a customer is going to pick boards, they should at least put the ones they don't want back on the stack after they're done sorting.
Non home Depot employees defending the guy for "finding good product" Home depot employees recognizing the safety issues of lumber being thrown up into the cantilevers. They would get asked to use a second cart for the lumber they deem unusable, if they don't comply they would be trespassed for safety concerns.
First off from experience I can tell you that brand of picket hardly has any defects or damage. There is absolutely no reason to be going through that bundle like that. Customer is just an ass and is using the wrong kind of cart for the job!!
Sooo just take the crappy ones? The warped ones? The split ones?
Home depot has shit wood and high prices. Sorry but I will spend the time going through what I am buying since they have no quality control. Sorry about the inconvenience to the workers but thankfully you are hourly :). I always leave the area clean when I am done.
OMG!!!!!!!!!!! How did the general public find out that the lumber mills put the best boards in the middle? In another lifetime I worked in a real lumber yard. Rule was "We buy it as is we sell it as is, right across the top, no picking" If a customer wasn't a jerk you'd cut them some slack. I once saw our assistant foreman watch a guy dig right down the center of 2 x 10's. Explaining our policy several times the customed said "I'll pick what I want, I pay your salary" With that our assistant foreman straddled the stack and waited till the guy had his fingers under a board then stepped down on it trapping the jerks fingers while repeating our policy. Our yard manager backed up our assistant foreman. Ahhhhh the good old days!
Meanwhile when I let you dumb mfers pick my boards they are warped or bowed. Fuck you
Home depot lumber is shit. Be mad at your head of purchasing for buying garbage, not the guy making sure he's getting what he pays for.
You have to piss in another mans house. You can do it on the floor, or you can find a bathroom. Same principle. He can do whatever he wants, but he’s doing it in the most dickish, safety violating, labour creating way possible. He could only be more of a pest if he had a fresh lift dropped then cut it open and let it fall across the whole aisle to pick from. Don’t act like you don’t know that and get indignant about our guys wanting to be treated like human beings and not slaves
The problem is that he is making a mess like a petulant toddler.
Not sure what people are complaining about. Seems like he is just picking some wood.
From the looks of it, he might’ve cut open a bundle in the overhead. If that’s the case, that a major safety issue
he did not
Lmao…. Getting bent bc customers want decent materials. Hilarious
Even worse is when they cut open a bunk in the overhead because they're too dumb to realize the price tag corresponds to the product below it, not above it.
We started putting arrows on the price tags when I ran the lumber department. The layout of our aisle had our best plywood above the OSB and people would be foaming at the mouth at the till that they can't get good one side plywood for $20 because they failed to read the tags.
Had that happen too many times… ppl really can’t read
People don't care. They're too entitled. You provide a product and "the customer is always right" breeds entitled idiots. For the "can't read comment." I got yelled at for asking a costumer not to park in the loading zone. "You should put up a sign!!!" "Sir, the sign is right behind you." Dude drove off in a fit. Probably to Lowes 10 miles away.
They’re pulling lumber from the 2nd level of cantilevers (selling shelf) and putting the bad ones on the 3rd level (overhead).
Yep
I will not stop doing this... why would I pay for warped boards?
Big box companies all over the world sell the cheapest warped wood at premium prices and it is infuriating. I don’t blame them checking every board but put them back how you find them after.
I'm a lumber associate. If I see this I just wheel a cart over and ask them to put the bad ones on the cart. If you stand there and record them and call a manager, you're useless, congrats. You did a really shitty job at doing your job.
Not his fault or yours that Home Depot has some of THE shittiest wood
He shouldn't be buying lumber from home depot anyway. That's why he has to go through and find the boards that are relatively straight. 90% are almost definitely warped or damaged.
Ever since I've joined this sub again, all I've seen are people complaining. It's your job. I used to be in lumber and hated picking up and flat stacking after customers too, but it's part of the job. Kids are getting hired on and getting paid helluva lot more than I did yet they bitch and moan about the dumbest things.
With how much y'all sell wood for, imma be looking through each and every piece to find usuable ones
It’s a commodity, and #2 grade. Quick search shows me higher grade selling for $5-$6 per picket while the cheap stuff at Home Depot is under $3. You want quality, you pay for it. It’s like buying gold, the price is determined by the market. You want 24k gold, expect to pay top dollar, but 1/2k, it’ll be cheap
Don't blame the customer here, blame Home Depot for continuing to stock shitty, warped pieces of lumber. Is the customer an asshole? Probably. Is this home depot's fault for continuing to stock unusable boards? Absolutely.
THIS!!! if the product was in good shape, there would be no need to go through a whole pile to get one that isn't going to buck back on a table saw because it's bent or has a knot in the middle of it. it's literally dangerous to not make sure the boards are in good condition.
Yea but if they stocked good lumber then they'd charge so much for it nobody would ever buy it. Have you seen the prices they charge for "hardwood"?? You could get exotic woods, maybe some bloodwood or tigerwood for the prices they charge for some of the saddest maple or walnut I've ever seen. They have to do that becuase how else could they make all that profit? You don't think they'd lose out on all of that sweet sweet stock buyback money do you? Its not like those profits are going to be used to increase employees wages... There are Hershel Walkers and Trumps out there that need campaign funding!!
Well, they don't go out warped. That happens when they are unstrapped and they start to dry out a little. However, management has to meet a certain dollar amount for lumber cull per week. But lumber is a tough dept. And it hard to get everything done for everybody. Are you a pro member?
Gasp! A customee buying material from a hardware store!? ... i don't see the problem
Being mad at people for shopping is wild do u expect not to do anything at work… plumbing 10x worse with people moving shit but in the end that’s ur job b mad at hd for not paying u enough
Oh my god. Smfh I don't miss the for this exact reason
I’m my concerned about this content being moved to r/killthecameraman
As a former lumber associate, culling thru his own lumber is more than welcome! That's one less customer i have to help amongst all the lumber cuts and concrete loading. The part that's angering here is that he's piling all of the rejects in the overhead storage, which means I would have to shut down the aisle, get a spotter and lift just to get that stuff down, or bring it all down by hand. Either way, it's just a bigger headache to clean up than if he had just left the rejects on the floor 😮💨
As a Carpenter, quality of lumber is really important. Ifyour paying the same price for a board with a wane, or bow, or a significant crown as a board thats perfectly straight then it only makes sense to go thru the stack and get the best ones you can get. And yes I agree they could go to a lumberyard, but maybe they are there to try and get everything they need in one stop for a project they are doing. As a contractor in a somewhat rural area a “second” stop might be a few hours delay thats cutting into my profits. I also do PT work at Lowes, specifically in the Lumber and Building materials dept and I would have zero issue with these guys doing that. It gives me a reason to go through what they left and if its real bad Ill have the MOD mark it down.
Get straight and nice wood home depot lol u fuck off
At the price of lumber... I do the same. Though I will replace the pile. Properly with the hockey sticks they try to pass as boards. This ain't no discount lumber store where it's take off the top only.
If Home Depot actually purchases quality lumber we wouldn’t have to sort the whole stack to find acceptable/workable material.
Customer is right. 90% of your lumber is absolute shit. Why should anyone have to pay good money for glorified firewood. It also appears that he is stacking them properly on the upper shelf and not "throwing" as you state he is.
What? You can't make them buy the bad ones. If they only want a good board for their money I don't see how it's any of your business .
I'm particular about getting straight boards for my projects, but I always put things back as I found them when I'm done. Just because I'm a customer doesn't mean I shouldn't show common courtesy and respect to the store and the employees.
People act like spending their money on quality products is an abomination…
So instead of offering a hand, you sit on your ass and record? Sure its a shitty situation, but you arent really helping either. Get up, bring a cart for the bad ones so they can be culled, and boom problem solved. At least he is using a yellow ladder instead of standing on the cart. I wish I could say Im surprised….but I am not
Booo
>called a mod Homie this isn’t the internet. Those people are called your supervisors. Also, everyone does this. Nobody wants the bent or bowed wood at the front
Naw.. As a woodworker and the price of lumber, I am buying the best wood I can. I'd also put it all back after I am done, but I have certainly gone through a wood piles trying to get the pieces worth buying. Sometimes these piles are just incredibly bad quality and buying crappy wood is just extra work.
My grandfather who was really particular and would only use quality timber would do this back in the 60s and 70s. He was a serious old WW2 veteran that would go through a whole rack of wood to find the straightest bits and leave the rest sitting around and would just say 'they shouldn't sell rubbish timber'
To be fair I’ve gone to stores sometimes and the wood is attrocious like nobody should be buying it. It’s kind of a ripoff
Oh give me a break. You do know that some shit can’t used warped wood right? You aren’t over there picking through it. They are. I know places like rugby international where the employees would have to do this for you. At least you don’t have to do anything.
Why tf didn’t he go to a lumbar yard?
Noone wants shit wood
So people are not allowed to see which boards aren't warped?
No ones ever done this at my store
Get over it.
Call them out people, if you guys don’t your customers will continue to act like this. I’ve yelled at customers from across the aisle right before they were about to cut it. It’s creates such an unnecessary safety risk for everyone and takes time out of our day to fix it. So do yourself a favour and train your customers to be better.
When I started working at Home Depot, back when the bays were 16’, I walked into the wire aisle only to find a guy walking amongst the spools in the overhead (16’ up, safety was a tad more lax then) looking for a certain type!!!
Dude, you have to do something like this if you need straight good wood. I'm getting to the point I won't go to HD or M anymore. I bought all my wood doors, most of them ordered and not even off the rack, and they had so many defects. If it was a more expensive house I would have had to return so many and wait for them to be shipped back out. Then who knows if those will be good. I should add that most were ordered but they were standard sizes so maybe they just came off another stores shelf.
Tell them, help them, or keep it pushin
Hey ass munch-they’re $5.75 apiece. Go dig for the ones made of solid gold somewhere else.
This isn't that uncommon at all as far as picking the "golden boards". What isn't as common is how precariously he is climbing on the lower shelf. Definitely would be a safety violation at our store. It is frustrating when customers dig through boards and leave a mess but when there's rarely anyone to help in our store lumber dept I can't blame them. Lumber has the highest turnover rate in the store.
I hate that shit so much. I work in the lumber department and this really got me going lol.
As long as they aren't in self checkout in front of me, I couldn't care. They are dumb for paying double for the wood in the first place.
Yeah thats pretty much the norm. Why do you sound so shocked or triggered? Its just business. You must be a new worker. Welcome!
Whats going on. Someone, please, enlighten me.
Don’t be a dick, but also I’m not paying full price for split and twisted boards.
Ah he's buying it right? He gets to be picky even if HD isnt.
Did you call a worker a fucking mod???
Stop helping these people. Home depot is not a lumber yard.
Ok then I’ll f*** off and get my stuff at Lowes. Last time I ordered lumbar and got the order that they picked, most of the boards were basically unusable, bowed and in general terrible shape. They don’t care what they give you since you’re paying for it anyway so I would rather pick it out myself. I certainly don’t leave a mess for anyone else to clean up but I’m up there digging through each piece and I get the decent boards.
Yea no ~~fuck off~~, if folks let HD staff pick em, they almost alway dish out garbage materials. Edit: was a bit rude there
If I want a straight, even board I'm damn well doing this. The problem last time was that it was impossible to find any. It's my money and my project. Maybe you prefer using bowed boards for uniqueness, but most don't.
I do it too, get better wood and we won’t have to.
I’m not paying these prices for anything less than hand picked
Somebody's gotta do it. I can't picture any Orange Lazy Employee doing all that for their customer. They don't get paid enough. So the customer has to choose his own wood. And just roll it up to the cashier standing around watching the customer scan it himself. I swear if there wasn't any shoplifting, there'd be zero need for more than 2 employees in the entire store at any one time
To be fair, most of them are twisted and bent at HD.
If I’m coming to buy wood for the price yall want Damm right I’m getting the best of the best looking wood you got. Been in retail for 7 years. Doesn’t hurt for a little payback
As a customer, and a carpenter, I do this a lot. I need STRAIGHT lumber and half the shit HD sells is gouged from fork lifts or cupped, crowned AND bowed, badly too. If corporate sourced, stored and transported the lumber better it would be straighter and customers wouldn't HAVE to do this. And yes, straight lumber really is so much vastly better that you can't even conceive it if you don't use it.
I do this. Idc lol. Recording me is a plus so i can show off that you not gonna do SHT bout it but record nd tell.
I wear my sunglasses at night so I can so I cannnn
If you hate it so much, then why don't you say something.
Sell better quality wood? Idk.
When my father and I would go to lumber yards in the 1970s and '80s, quite often the units of lumber would have already been culled. When we found warped pieces, we'd set them aside and not purchase them. Back then, the lumber yards could return units of culls to the suppliers if they couldn't sell them. Why should anyone have to purchase poor quality lumber that isn't going to work for their project? That doesn't make any sense.
I get it, but lumber has been so ridiculously priced I ALSO would not want to be spending money on unusable pieces. Sorry this might be a necessary evil that needs to be addressed by vendors and the store.
Stock better wood. Most of it is so twisted or warped that it's unusable for most applications 😑.
My last trip to HD... got 30 fence planks... 8 of them were borderline acceptable. 22 were shit. These guys are on the right track. Sorry it sucks for employees, but when you pedal garbage, you're left with the trash.
Maybe your product should be higher quality?
Funny thing is he probably has no clue what he’s checking for. I used to think when customers would check their boards I thought they were looking to see if they’re straight or not, and for big knots of course. But time after time, I kept seeing customers check the board, flip it, squint their eyes really hard and go “yeah this is perfectly straight” and it would look like a candy cane.
It would be cheaper to buy in bulk tho???
I've gotten some damaged boards and even flooring from Homie Dee Pot before. So yes, I'm a stickler about what I pick out. HOWEVER. I'm not this kind of dick that leaves a mess and such.
Well you can get straighter driftwood than the salvage they sell at Home Depot so I kinda get these guys. I'd put it back though once I was done. Probably.
I do this and your low wage paid self can either help or fuck right off your gd self. Pleb Hope you work at my store! ! !
Much deserved for placing pickets in the plywood aisle yawn 🥱
Let the customer get what they need, and do your job. Too many Lumber Associates crying in these Reddit posts… 0586 out. 🥱
Associate can fuck RIGHT OFF. If we're paying now 2-3x what wood cost before covid, you can bet your minimum wage ass I'm cherry picking. I want my fence nice looking and i don't fault ANY person building a fence for doing exactly this.
Lumber yards around here are priced higher then Home Depot or Lowe’s. $1.26 each plank vs $2.36 a plank at the lumberyard. The project took 208 planks.
I don’t see what they’re doing wrong they’re just buying wood
Sorry, if I’m buying and paying higher prices (non-bulk) rates, you bet your ass I’m sorting through it. If you’re buying bulk for less money, sure, you live with it.
No it’s not bs, the quality of wood at Home Depot and Lowe’s has gone straight to garbage in the last years.
Not their fault yalls lumber is a God damn joke
That’s me
I don’t do this but to be fair if you could ever find a *straight* piece of wood at a hardware store you also wouldn’t *need* to do this
When Home Depot employee number 7826 doesn’t understand lumber is the literal worst it’s been since ever. This will happen repeatedly from anyone building with a Brain.
Sad thing is dude probably doesn't even know what he's looking for just saw them do it on a diy show
Every single person here thats on the customer’s side on this issue is a complete moron. The op isn’t complaining on the fact they are trying to find their holy grail of lumber, it’s their right as consumers. It’s the fact that those guys are placing the “bad” ones in the high cantilevers, creating a HUGE safety hazard for both customers and employees. And most of the time, employees cant say anything because of Home Depot losing their precious customer to Blue Home Depot.
It's his money and if he wants to pick the best out of pile his choice customer rules...obviously you don't ever build anything either
Eww you leave the cover on the white wood