Lowe's Invests In Employees & Has Lower Theft

[Alpha8472]

Lowe's has invested in more staffing than its competitors and in turn has less theft.

More employees on the sales floor creates better customer service and also helps to prevent theft. Walmart and Target have theft problems due to understaffing.

Lowe's even pays their employees more than the other chains. All of this makes theft below the industry standard.

https://www.thestreet.com/retailers/low ... t-problems

[ClownLoach]

SHOCKING.

Must be lies and propaganda. The senior leaders at Wall Street firms that invest in and oversee analysis of retail firms know that the best way to run stores is to deliberately understaff them. (These same firms collectively own billions of Amazon shares of course, but would never think of acting without the highest levels of integrity).

Forbes has a unfortunately pay walled article right now in which they express shock and outrage at Petco, who is currently slashing payroll to the point that only two employees are on duty. Obviously these same Forbes folks have not been to a Dollar General, Rite Aid, Dollar Tree, 99 Store, Michaels, Five Below, CVS or Walgreens (pharmacy desk not part of the equation there) lately. But Forbes is finding that less payroll leads to lower sales and worse shrink, which then leads to more cuts lower sales higher shrink... Into a death spiral. What a concept! I can't wait to see these same Wall Street clowns get forced into recommending more payroll be spent on stores to stop these rampant flash mob lootings and robberies... And of course they'll never admit fault, they'll just call out the companies that aren't following Lowe's lead here and say "why not?" without mentioning that those same companies were just doing as they were told before.

I personally believe before you should be allowed to rate retail stocks, attend investor calls or make any kind of recommendations you should be required to work two full years in the industry at a variety of store sizes and types in all roles. You should have to work for Dollar General or Dollar Tree as a Store Manager in training. A Home Depot manager. A Kroger manager. A CVS manager. And so on for a couple years. Should also have to be a cashier in a productivity driven chain like Costco. A truck unloader and stocker at brutal workplaces that force three or four people to hand unload a full 53' trailer at midnight then stock it all by opening. They should have to be a janitor at Walmart for a week (after receiving full Hazmat and bodily fluid cleanup training). Then these people will have my respect when they open their big mouths.

[ClownLoach]

And I'll give Lowe's a heck of a lot of credit, because their operations in my area have improved substantially in the last three years. I spent twice as much at Lowe's as Home Depot this past year because of better assortment and price, plus better quality brands. I'm seeing big names leaving the Orange box and moving to Lowe's, like Klein Electrical tools and Spax fasteners. Both Lowe's and Home Depot have obviously lowered staffing levels, but every employee at Lowe's these days looks happy for the first time ever - they greet you, they walk you to the aisle, they are obviously engaging to prevent theft. Home Depot service has completely dissipated except for returning to full service checkout while staffed for self checkout, causing backups and long lines. Lowe's has become a big winner in my book, and what is the most important thing to me is that all these improvements have happened with the same staff, same Store Managers and above to the best of my knowledge. They've learned investing in their people's careers is more profitable than trying to fire their way to success. There are a lot of retailers I mentioned above who could learn from this example at Lowe's. I might go fill out an application.

[storewanderer]

Haven't noticed any staffing improvements at Lowe's at all. Same old thing in my area if you shop anytime after about 2 PM. Often self checkout only, Reno Store has busted up self checkouts, it is quite terrible. Also have tried to locate multiple items based on bay number on the website, and the items and a place on the shelf for the said item is nowhere to be found. When I eventually find someone to help me, sometimes they are able to find me the item somewhere else, other times they just shrug and say they aren't sure where the item is.

However I did end up making a major purchase from them months ago, due to their ability to do a next day delivery of the item. I did go into the store to pay for and schedule delivery for the item, in the morning when they are extremely well staffed, and it was a very straightforward process though I basically went in and gave the item number to the employee and went through the scheduling/payment process. The main reason I went in person is because I didn't believe they could actually deliver next day (as the website said) and wanted to hear it from the employee. The employee confirmed it but warned me to make sure I get a scheduling call later that night and if I don't to call her at the store the next morning after 7 AM. Their third party delivery had poor communication but eventually showed up that promised next day, and got the job done efficiently and accurately. So to that point I was quite happy with this purchase process, despite my reservations about Lowe's, and would purchase there again given the same factors. But it gets better; the price on my item fell about 10 days after the purchase. So I went to Lowe's and asked for a price adjustment. The refunds person took care of that quickly and even suggested I check the price "the next few weeks" since there is a 30 day window and if it goes down again I can get another adjustment, which I had no idea you could do, I thought price adjustments were a one and done thing. So again that employee was also quite helpful. So I will say where it counts the most (major purchase) they absolutely executed well.

I think store design and layout also helps Lowe's when it comes to deterring theft.

Also Home Depot has not removed self checkouts anywhere around Reno/Sacramento where I've been in their stores. I still find the employees at Home Depot to be extremely helpful on the surface, actively greeting and offering help, until you actually ask them a question that requires some knowledge, or even to locate an item that can't be quickly found/looked up on their app, then it all falls apart. Ace Hardware keeps opening stores in the market; new one out in Dayton; new one out in Sparks; new one coming in North Reno (Lemmon Valley). I think those stores will chip away at share of Home Depot/Lowes similar to the impact Dollar General has had on Wal Mart (arguable what exactly that impact is, but there is definitely an impact).

[Super S]

The Lowe's near me recently added a tool rental center. I checked it out and found they do not have as much to offer as Home Depot. That's the only real change I have noticed. Lowe's has added Craftsman tools, but, to me anyway, these aren't the same quality level as Craftsman was in the past (I own a lot of Craftsman stuff) but the quality was slipping when Sears was still a factor. But the difference I see...a big one...is that there are times that Lowe's doesn't even have staffed registers on the lumber end, and the service desk is doing double duty as returns and cashiering, with self checkouts (where attendants often walk away) the only other option. I still remember a time when somebody was trying to drag a piece of plywood over the self checkout scanner because there was no scan gun at the time....

[veteran+]

And I'll give Lowe's a heck of a lot of credit, because their operations in my area have improved substantially in the last three years. I spent twice as much at Lowe's as Home Depot this past year because of better assortment and price, plus better quality brands. I'm seeing big names leaving the Orange box and moving to Lowe's, like Klein Electrical tools and Spax fasteners. Both Lowe's and Home Depot have obviously lowered staffing levels, but every employee at Lowe's these days looks happy for the first time ever - they greet you, they walk you to the aisle, they are obviously engaging to prevent theft. Home Depot service has completely dissipated except for returning to full service checkout while staffed for self checkout, causing backups and long lines. Lowe's has become a big winner in my book, and what is the most important thing to me is that all these improvements have happened with the same staff, same Store Managers and above to the best of my knowledge. They've learned investing in their people's careers is more profitable than trying to fire their way to success. There are a lot of retailers I mentioned above who could learn from this example at Lowe's. I might go fill out an application.

I agree, the difference is obvious, at least in my area.

There are so few HD employees that are pleasant to deal with. They seem indifferent and very defensive and easily agitated. They seem to smile at each other but not with the customer.

[jamcool]

And I'll give Lowe's a heck of a lot of credit, because their operations in my area have improved substantially in the last three years. I spent twice as much at Lowe's as Home Depot this past year because of better assortment and price, plus better quality brands. I'm seeing big names leaving the Orange box and moving to Lowe's, like Klein Electrical tools and Spax fasteners. Both Lowe's and Home Depot have obviously lowered staffing levels, but every employee at Lowe's these days looks happy for the first time ever - they greet you, they walk you to the aisle, they are obviously engaging to prevent theft. Home Depot service has completely dissipated except for returning to full service checkout while staffed for self checkout, causing backups and long lines. Lowe's has become a big winner in my book, and what is the most important thing to me is that all these improvements have happened with the same staff, same Store Managers and above to the best of my knowledge. They've learned investing in their people's careers is more profitable than trying to fire their way to success. There are a lot of retailers I mentioned above who could learn from this example at Lowe's. I might go fill out an application.

I agree, the difference is obvious, at least in my area.

There are so few HD employees that are pleasant to deal with. They seem indifferent and very defensive and easily agitated. They seem to smile at each other but not with the customer.

The Lowe's where I live are better laid out and cleaner than the nearby HD, which has displays blocking the aisles. I would love to seen Menards expand into the Southwest.

[ClownLoach]

The Lowe's near me recently added a tool rental center. I checked it out and found they do not have as much to offer as Home Depot. That's the only real change I have noticed. Lowe's has added Craftsman tools, but, to me anyway, these aren't the same quality level as Craftsman was in the past (I own a lot of Craftsman stuff) but the quality was slipping when Sears was still a factor. But the difference I see...a big one...is that there are times that Lowe's doesn't even have staffed registers on the lumber end, and the service desk is doing double duty as returns and cashiering, with self checkouts (where attendants often walk away) the only other option. I still remember a time when somebody was trying to drag a piece of plywood over the self checkout scanner because there was no scan gun at the time....

I think there are still a handful of Lowe's that are minimal volume stores, but for some reason they've decided to hold onto them. Those are the only locations I've been to that haven't received the new front ends that are basically all self checkout but using their same newly updated POS system the employees use. They did get rid of a lot of stores a few years back, maybe more than they should have. My guess is if they kept it and aren't making big investments then it's a breakeven location that they expect will eventually grow and earn more CapEx dollars for updates.

But even then one that I visit is their oldest California new-build store (I'm pretty sure it is a converted Price Club) and this year the entire exterior was repainted, new front end, every interior light fixture was replaced with a bunch of tiny square LED fixtures that seem to have doubled the brightness, concrete floor was ground down again and refinished, entire parking lot received new lights. For all intents and purposes it is a brand new store no different from a two week old unit even though it's over two decades old. They also have been aggressively resetting stores that were Lowe's builds (typical wider shallow rectangular boxes) to get the layouts to be more uniform from store to store and moving every department to be in the same location when possible (aside from "left" entrance stores and "right" entrance which is reversed layout).

This makes a huge difference in your shopping when say one store has electrical in aisles 10-13 and the store across town has electrical in 11-14 so virtually the same location, when in the past there may have been a large difference in their placement. If you're a professional and are considering switching from Home Depot to Lowe's since many big brands are leaving HD (while HD moves to their private labels that are inferior) - once you realize how Lowe's is unifying the layouts you can see how it would save you a ton of time since you would never have to search for an item in a store that is "new" to you... If you know one store you know them all. Most of OC and Riverside counties are almost done with these adjustments; they also undid the Tustin test store that used to have wacky things like a weird looking lighting department like Ikea and a holographic projection kitchen demo room. Now it's back to standard layout and prototype, even scraped off the fancy woodgrain floors they were testing because the store didn't match the others and they're laser focused on consistency and uniformity.

Where Lowe's still has work to do are the former Eagle stores they converted. The layout is nonsensical, no racetrack, square shaped stores with 4X split aisles so no sightlines from front to back of the store. I don't remember Eagle having bad layouts like that. The Lowe's conversions are like a bad maze.

Meanwhile I can name five Home Depot stores that are identical buildings inside down to the last steel rack, and not one single department is anywhere near the same location. I have to wonder if they even have a space planning department or if they had just let their Store Managers decide where they wanted to put all the departments because they are so different.

[submariner]

Lowe's even pays their employees more than the other chains. All of this makes theft below the industry standard.

Not in my recent research. For a Part Time Cashier in San Dimas, CA, Lowe's advertises $15.50 - $18.60 per hour. In nearby Glendora, CA, Home Depot offers $18.50 – $19.50 for the same Part Time Cashier position.

I can't say with any authority how employees are generally treated (and to be honest, that can vary a lot from store to store), but I'd say Lowe's wages are competitive, rather than more.

[Alpha8472]

Yes, competitive would be a better description. Although Lowe's seems to have better customer service training and much more pleasant employees than Home Depot. Dare I say people like to work at Lowe's while Home Depot employees seem to hate working there.