Tearing open packages?

Re: Tearing open packages?

Dick Coers

You really need to be vigilant when buying hardware anywhere it is self service. People don't return an item to the same bin either. I check every bolt I buy with a nut, especially when buying metric. Also count and check over the plastic bags. I once bought a kitchen faucet at Menards. I got it home, and it had pipe dope on the fittings. I took it right back, explaining I was not used to buying used plumbing supplies there!

Re: Tearing open packages?

John Pappas

It's wrong. I wouid never do it.

In other words: Is it OK to steal?

Re: In other words: Is it OK to steal?

Michael van pelt

I work part time at a big box store in hardware and it happens everyday! Packages torn open and items stolen. I find inventory everywhere. People change their minds and just drop items anywhere. No manners and no etiquette. I get my area all cleaned up and when I return my next day at work it is a big mess again and items found everywhere! Oh well.....my job is never done!

Re: In other words: Is it OK to steal?

Dick Coers

If it was the local hardware store of the past, you would have an employee take you to the stock and count it out for you. The new model is to not have any employees within eyesight so there is no help. Can't have it both ways!

Re: In other words: Is it OK to steal?

BrianMonumentCO

To some extent, I blame some of that on the big box stores for going with plastic bags containing a number of items that I cannot check without breeching the bag. I consider it ok to poke the machine screw through the plastic so I can check it against a nut. I prefer the older model of hardware store where the parts were in bins. The bags don't stop pilferage in my opinion. And they do increase anxiety about the nature of the contents of the bag.

As for taking an item without paying. That is just plain wrong. And one should get what one deserves.

Agreed!

Jason Roehl in Lafayette, IN

I don't hesitate to open packages to check the contents--I got over that after store employees would do that very thing when helping me years ago.

As for taking a "sample"? No way--that's stealing.

Jason

RE: I'll second that

Re: In other words: Is it OK to steal?

John in NM

I don't think the bags are intended to stop pilferage, they increase the profit overall. Each bag is the same price, with varying contents per size of hardware - maybe two large screws or 5 small ones, but always the same price. When priced individually, the small stuff is vastly cheaper - $0.05 or something instead of 5 for $0.89.

Just speculating though, I've never really taken the time to price compare on that stuff. I usually go to the hardware store for stuff like this instead of Home Depot.

To answer the OP's question though, I might be willing to poke a screw through the plastic to verify pitch or something, but that is about it. Often when looking for plumbing parts in big box stores I end up digging through the 1/2" fittings looking for actual 1/2" instead of 3/4" etc that some idiot tossed in. Usually once I've picked up the wrong part I'll find where it is supposed to go and put it there instead of back in the wrong bin.

Re: In other words: Is it OK to steal?

John K Jordan

It's a sad state that some people think that stealing even something small is OK. I can understand a hungry child taking an apple but an adult stealing a screw from a business? Good grief.

A clerk, excuse me, an associate at HD said it was unbelievable what some people do. I wouldn't work there long. I'd catch them at it and kill them with a hammer and go directly to jail. HD just writes it off and the rest of us pay for it.

JKJ

Re: Tearing open packages?

John Veerkamp

Not OK to steal. Retail business make bottom line decisions on how much loss to tolerate. In hardware most items are cheap enough that covering loss is cheaper than preventing loss on most items. More expensive merchandise like chainsaws and mowers get more protection.

Re: Tearing open packages?

Barry Irby

Went to Home Depot this afternoon and bought a bunch of small nuts and bolts.

First time I realized they are individually marked with a code. Something like ACK stamped into them. The clerk at the register just inters the code and counts them. seems like it is expensive, but probably cheaper than all the little bags.

Now for the dilemma. I bought 8 little lag bolts, 5/16" by 1 1/2". The associate in the aisle counted them, handing them to me while I counted out eight. When I got back I have nine. I did not mean to steal it. It followed me home. Now do I take it back?

Re: Tearing open packages?

John K Jordan

>>>I did not mean to steal it. It followed me home. Now do I take it back?

This qualifies as an mistake, not a theft (unless you slid in an extra one after they were counted).

I'd take it back in a heartbeat. I want things to be straight - not in error either in my favor and not in their favor. At minimum you might restore the clerk's jaded opinion of humanity in a small way!

BTW, once I went through the bank drive-thru and when the teller sent out the money I asked for I counted it - $90 too much. I pushed the button and asked if she had sent the right amount. A pause then I heard a gasp. At the end of the day a bank teller has to make up any difference in the till from their own pocket, whether it's one penny or $90. This girl was real happy I didn't just drive off with it!

JKJ

The dilemma....

John in NM

Keep it simple - bring the bolt back and just drop it in the correct bin. Saves arguing with the return desk over it

I once tried to bring $20 back into the bank after the ATM gave me $20 extra. They wouldn't even listen to me!

Re: Tearing open packages?

Joseph Mulherin

John Jordan....A similar situation happened to me. I worked construction, went to the bank in my car to the drive up window, put the deposit slip along with the check into the box and asked for a few dollars in return. When I went home and showered and dressed I found out that the teller had given me all of the money in cash and also into my account. I went back to the bank and asked for the manager.He said "banks do not make mistakes".I showed him the deposit slip, and also the cash returned to me and he finally did realize that an error happened.....and thanked me and the teller thanked me also. I think she was replaced until she got further training.

Re: In other words: Is it OK to steal?

BrianMonumentCO

Pilferage and profit are just two data points on a line dealing with revenue. Nothing more.

I suppose the real reason they have bags is so they can get a bar code on something that can be scanned.

Re: At the lumber yard

Steve jenkins

I bought some 8/4 Wenge and the warehouseman and I loaded it. He then gave me the ticket and when I went in to pay I saw that he wrote it up as 4/4. Didn't even think about it I just corrected the mistake. Amounted to an extra $750.

Re: Tearing open packages?

Barry Irby

I will take it back.

I went to the bank at about 1:50 when they closed at 2:00. Said I need to move $2,000 to the bank across the street, just give it to me in hundreds. I watched her count it and rushed across the street. In that bank they counted it again and gave me $200 back. I protested I want to deposit the whole 2 grand. She counted it out again and insisted she had it. I went back across the street. They were closed. I pressed the two hundreds to the glass and said, "it's your money." They let me in at light speed. Walked up to the teller and asked "are you looking for this?" The relief was palpable. Made her day. After that, she would see me and say "I can wait on you now."

Re: Tearing open packages?

AZ in Colorado Springs

A friend manages plumbing at the BORG. One day a customer needed a part for a shower head. Not available as an individual part, he was told. So he bought a new shower head.

Later that day my friend sees a shower head in the pile of returned items (the same one, as it turned out). The customer had bought the shower head, opened the package and removed the part he needed, and returned the package less than ten minutes after he bought it.

Shameful!