Lowes

[Davy]

I made a trip to Lowes yesterday to get some bolts. One of the guys in the hardware department asked me "young man, do you need help finding anything"? I hesitated and looked over at him and told him that he startled me calling me a young man (I'm 61). He said, at 92, everybody is young to me. He was very helpful, sharp as a tack and had much more hair than I do.

I immediately went home and started working out. Just kidding about that part.

[Just In Tile LLC]

Hahaha well Davy it's a good place to work to have a descent medical plan. Having worked my way through their system when I moved to Texas if you ever apply go for commercial sales or the PSI-PSE position. Those positions basically ask you to build relationships with contractors or help plan out a remodel without dealing with stocking shelves or most customers a backup plan for me for sure!

[dhagin]

Now that made me laugh. Had a contract with lowes back in WA and have some good contacts here too.

You've often got to seek them out, but ther are good folks there. Send them a list of materials to bid sometime, you might be surprised.

[Just In Tile LLC]

That's true Dana, last material list I gave them to discount I got 8$ off each bag of thinset mortar. Commercial sales guy said he did it because they appreciated my business with them .

[smifwal]

Up here at lowes if a bag of thinset has a hole in it they mark it down 50% Before they switched to TEC they carried Mapei, I would go in every week and dig out all the busted bags. Sometimes they hide them. But at the end of the day and your tired and just want to go home it makes it real easy to throw away that 1/4 bucket of thinset when you only paid $9.00/bag. Hell sometimes the bucket goes with it.

[Tool Guy - Kg]

Originally Posted by Davy

I immediately went home and started working out. Just kidding about that part.

Well, then. Where’d you go instead?

[Davy]

Well, I was kidding about part of it. I did go home.

[John Bridge]

At 92 the old guy doesn't need Lowes for medical care. He has Medicare which is pretty good.

If I went to work at Lowes I would want to help retail customers. The contractors can take care of themselves, and if they can't, I don't want to know them.

I may not be old enough for Lowes, though. I'm only 77.

[MAPEI - Technical Service]

Shawn, which brand your store carries depends on which Regional Distribution Center (RDC) covers that store. At the end of this year they will be once again reconfiguring the RDCs with more of an emphasis on MAPEI so you should start seeing MAPEI products show up on the shelves at your Lowes again.

[smifwal]

That's good to hear Dan.
John I think you might be old enough to get the greeter job, just got to get your foot in the door, then the sky's the limit ;-)

[barnaba]

John, something tells me you have never worked retail at a big box store.

Having worked retail in my youth - almost 20 years ago now - I still am haunted by these memories. The phrase "I just work here" takes a whole new meaning when it comes to retail. When you work the floor, directly with customers, the bigger the store the more you are expected to know if something - anything - a)is in stock, b) the aisle and bay it might be, and c) does it come in pink.

John, you expect eager DIY homeowners as your potential customers, while in reality you would also likely encounter plenty of bitter people who'd tell you "Well, I am going to go with the pre-mixed mastic for my shower anyway, because it says on the bucket it sticks to anything, and it better work or I will be holding you guys responsible", or "well, my brother's mother's father's sister-in-law got her tiles installed on sheetrock a few months ago and they are still up so I certainly don't think I need all this CBU/Waterproofing"

[John Bridge]

Hey Bart,

We get the same thing around here.

I don't know how many people we've had come on here, asked a million questions and then don't done nothing we've advised. There are probably some of them reading this now.

It doesn't change the goal, though, which is to provide the absolute best information we can. I know that through the years the winners have outnumbered the losers.

No, I've never worked in a big box store.

[tilelayer]

Dan,

Any chance Mapei pops back up in the northeast ?

[Houston Remodeler]

we are blessed with 3 Floor & Decors in Houston.

They are normally very well stocked with Mapei products.

Picked up some Flexcolor 3d today

customer was thrilled.

[MAPEI - Technical Service]

Derrick, we'll have a much larger footprint in the Lowes in the Northeast including your area. While I don't know all of the details, I know we're gearing up to produce the initial inventory during the summer months.

Paul, Floor and Decor carries MAPEI exclusively in all of their locations and are growing by leaps and bounds. They've embraced the Flexcolor 3D which will make it much more widely available.