I’m mostly talking politics here; I’d rather not give money to MAGA or extreme libertarian businesses.
Since the recent Washington Post controversy I’m cutting back on my Amazon purchases, shopping more at local businesses, and also buying more at the Big Box stores. I’ve occasionally researched the politics of the Big Three hardware stores, but never came to a firm decision. Now I’m feeling unmotivated and am soliciting humble opinions.
My memory is that the head honcho of Menards is a douchebag. And maybe Home Depot had two founders, one of whom was nice, and the other was rotten (and recently deceased?). I’ve no idea about HD’s current management. Or Lowe’s.
For those who don’t know, the “rotten” one was Bernard Marcus; conservative, Republican and a supporter of all three of Donald Trump’s presidential campaigns.
Was there a thread not too long ago about the general topic of spending retail dollars based on the political endpoint of profits derived from that spending? If so, I can’t find it. It could be an interesting discussion.
On this set of choices, there are no Menards where I live, small hardware stores here are pathetic (when you can even find them), and the Lowes is much further away and has a smaller choice of most goods than Home Depot, so I shop at Home Depot. I think I would be causing more harm through pollution and supporting the oil industry by driving further to Lowes. Of course, if I had an electric car and solar panels to power it, it wouldn’t matter. Or I could order things to be delivered, if I could be sure they were delivered by electric vehicles powered by renewable energy. It’s a difficult path to calculate.
My son worked for Menards for 17 years. It was the worst place he ever worked and he took a salary cut to go to a different job. Menard liked to make surprise visits and randomly fire people. Forgot to shave that morning? You’re fired. Employees were routinely treated like shit, and Menard (the younger) is a Trumpy.
I hate Home Depot. Nobody there knows where any goddamn thing is. In fact, I think they actively avoid making eye contact, and I’ve seen them scurry off to avoid being asked a question.
Lowes is marginally better.
I prefer Ace Hardware for common needs like nuts, bolts, screws, nails and handyman things. They’re probably more expensive than a big box, but the employees know where everything is and are always helpful. As for larger things like dimensional lumber, I used to go to a contractor’s supply lumber house in Portland. At least they knew what the fuck it is that you are looking for and can make suggestions to keep you from getting the wrong thing.
Trying to direct your retail dollars politically is IMO a stupid pointless exercise.
If they’re a national scale chain, they’re R-leaning, period. If they’re a local small biz they’re probably R-leaning. If they’re a franchise, e.g. Ace, they’re both: HQ is national; the franchisee is small.
If indeed trump ushers in Putinism with American characteristics, substantially all Americans are the sort of cowards who will quickly bend the knee to avoid trouble. With the businessfolks to the fore since they perceive they are a larger target than are employees or retired folks.
Probably true in general, but there are a few bright spots. As is often mentioned in this neck of the internet woods, the spice seller Penzey’s is a great place for lefties. Some areas have brick and mortar stores, but they also do a lot of online business. I love 'em, both for their political stance and their excellent products.
I don’t expect my choices about where to spend my money make much political difference, but to the extent that it’s feasible, I intend not to give my sweet, sweet capitalist tidbits to entities that actively wish harm on me.
How about whichever is closest? Drive less, reduce your Carbon Emissions. That would be the Ace that opened down the road a while ago. A lot better than going all the way to town. 10 miles instead of 20.
The owners of ULine (warehouse/shipping supplies) were on the NYT or WaPo list of 5 top donors to trump’s campaign. So I’m happy never to order from them again.
My local Ace Hardware is known through the city for their expertise and friendliness, and it’s super close, so I go there for almost everything. HD, I only go when necessary, due to reasons Chefguy pointed out. I’ve gotten out of the habit of shopping at Lowe’s because the one by me had so many prostitutes and pimps in the parking lot, but I hear it’s been cleaned up so I might start going back there instead of HD.
My spending is almost statistically meaningless. As is my vote, and my soda cup that I can throw in the trash or in the street. Still, one choice is better, and other things being equal I’ll choose better over worse.
I won’t be a fool about it, and won’t drive 20 miles to boycott a company.
And I’m not boycotting Amazon. It’s still a better company than Menards. Financing a good newspaper is a wonderful thing, even if Bezos wants to cover his ass a bit. As you put it, we could be moving toward ‘Putinism’, and having the Post officially and forcefully reject trump could cause serious problems for Bezos and Amazon. Goddammit.
But I don’t want Amazon to become more of a monopoly, so I’ll be spreading out my spending. And I’d rather not put money into a company, whose PACS and owners are actively supporting Putinism.
From my house the closest Home Depot and Lowe’s are more or less the exact same distance away in opposite directions. I almost always go to Lowe’s. It’s just the better store overall. Only reason I ever really go to HD is because they carry Ryobi power tools and Lowe’s doesn’t.
On the non-political side, I like Home Depot’s website. Lots of useful filters, links to manufacturer’s manuals, good specs, better user reviews than Amazon, good info about which stores have a product in stock.
And it could be labeled a “pet peeve” but Menards’ practice of featuring the “After 11% Rebate” price annoys the fuck out of me. Don’t put the bullshit price in the biggest type.
