I visited my local Home Depot store today, to see what’s been selling in their Black Friday tool deals section, and I saw this Gerber machete and folding knife combo set.
Before we get into that, this was a very strange visit. 3 or 4 times – I lost track – I was asked if I needed help.
“Welcome to Home Depot, can I help you find something.” I moved around a little, and then another voice – “Welcome to Home Depot…”
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Everywhere I went, “Welcome to Home Depot…” At first I thought it was just me, as I had been walking in circles looking at all of the holiday displays and taking some photos.
But then I heard store associates greeting other shoppers, and realized there must be a new store-wide or maybe company-wide directive.
It was really strange. Someone was unboxing and shelving products in electrical, paused, and then: “Welcome to Home Depot…”
Back to the point – what’s a Gerber machete doing in the holiday tool deals and gifts area?
This is far from the first time I saw Gerber machetes in Home Depot’s Black Friday deals section, and unlike many of the other promos I’ve observed over the years, this one always seems to sell well.
Would you think that this would be a popular deal, as it sits among the cordless drills, wrenches, mechanics tool sets, hammers, utility knives, tape measure 2-packs, tool boxes, and other such deals no one is ever surprised to see at a home center store? I wouldn’t.
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One important lesson I learned over the years is that a lot of things cannot be predicted ahead of time, they can only be measured.
This year, the deal is for the Gerber Gator Jr Machete with a Paraframe folding knife for less than price for just the machete itself on Amazon.
Deal Price: $28.97
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Jim Felt
Gerber was founded in PrePortlandia by an ad agency owner in WWll. He hand made his Christmas gifts for his clients. Kinda of a pre Tim Leatherman inspiration story.
They sold out decades ago now but I always find their backstory kinda warm and fuzzy.
And no I’d not want any such a thing but I’m sure their market research goes right past my preferences.
Old Suburban Dad
The “Welcome to Home Depot…” side bit here was legit funny.
A W
It reminded me of Ron Swanson getting stopped by a Lowe’s employee.
“I know more than you.”
😂
CMF
The HD I go to in Massena, NY, is typically always like that. All the staff are friendly, always saying hello and asking if I need help with anything.
Maybe it is just the small rural town mentality.
ETilley
Massena! Lived there for 12 years – 1995 thru 2006 right after college. You’re right about the THD up there. On of our best employees from the old GM plant retired and took a position there. He used to run the kids’ projects. After the closure of the few mom/pop places up there, I was glad to see/hear some small town friendliness still existed.
CMF
Just wanted to add, this is not new. I have been going there since around 2008 and they have always been friendly like this.
zchris87v
What I experience at Lowe’s is what everyone else seems experience at Home Depot. Both are right across the street from each other, but Lowe’s seems to employ people that do not care. Perhaps it’s being 2 hours from Atlanta that means they ensure better employee engagement at HD.
Chuck
You know, I noticed this a few days ago. I couldn’t walk a few feet without being asked for help. I’m in so regularly right now, they recognize me and aren’t offering as much. But it was nice when they did and if I ask, they’re going above and beyond to help. Lowe in my area is very different. And they’re are other issues that keep me away from Lowe’s. Lowe’s E-receipts don’t work on mobile and that makes problems for me on my commercial accounts.
TMedina
Probably a quieter version of Target’s “10-4” program. And an effort to drive sales in an anticipated slower season.
TomD
Those are the kinds of tools sold to be gifted – I’d be entirely unsurprised if 80% or more are gifted instead of being bought for “own use”.
Stuart
Happy Holidays – here, I got you a machete. It’s strange either way, but sales are sales.
Jim
You just never know when a mass of kudzu is going to suddenly spring up overnight and trap you in the house.
CMF
Not what I would give as a gift, but would buy for myself…provided I liked it (not junk).
As a gift, only if someone I know is onto knives, machetes’, or other such gear. In such a case, I would suspect the person has a small collection and probably a discerning taste, so a machete could be a gift, bought not this one for this person.
So back to myself, either you like it and get one, or don’t buy it
Bonnie
Exactly the kind of generic but “masculine” stocking stuffers you see on every stupid gift list for men.
Jeremiah
I think I got mine from hd bf a few years ago. Works alright. Not the best machete design but it’s held up to some abuse.
Will
The overly enthusiastic, store wide “welcome to home depot” has happened before. It seems like it only lasts a few days. Comes off a little creepy and a lot insincere. I feel bad for the employees that have to follow these badly thought out and implemented corporate mandates.
Scott K
I think this must be a company initiative. I had a really frustrating experience at HD a few weeks ago and then received an email survey, so I decided to fill it out. One of the questions was: did a store employee greet you?
TMedina
The better question might have been, “did you want an employee to greet you?”
Every time an associate tries to greet me and be chatty, I’m waiting for the “do you own your home?” question.
Stuart
Those really bother me. They start acting helpful and then segue into a sales pitch. NO, I don’t want to sign up for solar panels on a casual trip to the store.
“Did you find everything you were looking for today?” No. The store doesn’t the [some new tool I was looking for]. “Oh, well, do you own your home? Can I talk to you about…” No thanks.
MM
Agreed.
My local Ace Hardware has a related problem. The staff has clearly been taught to greet people, ask how they can help, etc. The problem is that they aren’t very knowledgeable so they just end up wasting time.
The last time I was there the oh so eager and helpful employee stopped me at a narrow choke point entering the store. I knew exactly what I wanted and where it was. The employee, however, did not know what a “forstner bit” was, and instead of simply stepping aside so I could grab it, insisted on ‘helping’ by fumbling around with their phone and trying in vain to spell “forstner”. The previous time I was there a different employee told me they didn’t carry the product I was looking for, even though I had confirmed stock over the telephone an hour before and the product was clearly visible from where we were talking.
Big Richard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEhHEOIYgMY
S
This has been my Ace experience every time. Worse, they seem to check shelving sku’s, not products within the shelf space. So when I call to ask if they have a screen door latch, once I get there, they’re proudly showing me a sillcock spigot in the place the latches should be.
Nate
Heh. I was in Radio Shack picking up some things, when a woman came through the door and asked the cell-phone merchant (the entire staff was cell-phone merchants) “Do you have something called Tuner Cleaner? My husband asked me to swing by and grab some.”
“Tuner cleaner? I’ve never heard of that, no, I don’t think we have that…”
“It’s right here.”, I plucked a can off the shelf and just handed it to them, both equally dumbfounded but for different reasons.
S
I just tell them, “of course! But $500 for an old Winnebago isn’t that difficult.”
Always entertaining seeing their mental gymnastics to figure out how to proceed.
Anthony Armstrong
This happened to me Sunday.
My local ace redid their plumbing section and it’s abysmal so I had to go to HD.
For the first time in 20 years of going HD I was asked multiple times if I needed help.
The plumbing section was horrible, stuff missing,open empty boxes, missed binned items .
I was there for over an hour trying to find all the supplies I needed to add a laundry sink to the basement. One of the employees asked me if I was ok and I explained my frustration, he brought back the manager who was attentive and very understanding. Beyond that multiple employees attempted to help me and they offered actual help.
At the end one female employee stuck with me for 20 minutes and help me find 2 angle stop valves that where in top stock.
It was much different than my normal experience as far are employees helping and asking if I needed help. It’s not just you Stuart, there is definitely a new push for customer service.
It was great except the employees don’t know the product, I had to educate them on plumbing items and in the middle of that I helped a customer get everything he needed.
Jim Felt
I’ve done that a multitude of times since the advent of decent A19 LEDs as their retail floor staff can not explain Kelvin let alone why it might matter.
Jager
I’m assuming someone finally clued into how many sales they lose from people who would impulse buy a black Friday power tool deal but give up when they can’t find someone to unlock the cables on the holiday display and do the perp walk to checkout.
Dave
1. I’ve bought this machete twice over the years – the pocketknife isn’t great, but the big blade is handy in the garden and I might just grab another because it’s been a couple of years…
2. There was a big employee meeting going on outside the lumber yard when I went in today (odd place for it, looked like a lot of new hires), and I’ve definitely noticed a push toward better customer service the last few days. If this is an initiative they stick with, great! I’d rather be offered help too many times than spend a half hour wandering around begging anyone I found to help me get something from the rafters or unlock something in a cage, then waiting for “the right department guy” they claimed to have called never show up. Needing help and not getting it has to cost me at least an hour or two a week given that I’m in the store almost daily and sometimes more than once a day…
Stuart
The Paraframe was one of my first folders, and it served me very well, especially considering what I paid for it. I later bought the Gerber Paraframe 2, and that one wasn’t very good.
Alexk
Didn’t notice anything different, service wise, at my Kingston NY Home Depot. Maybe they didn’t get the memo?
I never liked my Gerber Paraframe knife. There is a Gerber machete where I work. Never been interested in trying it. The serrations on the back seem like an accident waiting to happen. Be either a machete or a saw, not both.
Still lovin’ the Wuben G5 after a week+. It came in handy when we lost power two nights in a row and had to go to the generator. Any flashlight would have done the job, but it’s fun to play with and works well.
Robert
Stuart, Helpful employees at Home Depot, machetes, giants werewolves and skeletons on discount? You stepped through a portal (i.e., the Pro line) into the Twilight Zone.
Andy
I have that machete and it’s because, when I went to get a pocket knife and settled on the paraframe and it was (I’m gonna fudge numbers a bit, it was probably 7 years ago) $19. As I walked up to the register, here was this package with that knife and a big ol’ machete, $20. “A $1 machete?”, I thought. “How could I go wrong?”
I still have that machete, and the first time I used it was last summer as a saw to break down construction lumber, because all of my actual saws were either at work or so irrevocably buried behind a garage reorganizing that they may as well not have existed. Worked fine, and I imagine it would handle branches pretty well.
Jason
Having been in chain store retail management and been through the training on this kind of initiative, this is likely two things:
1) Greeting customers, making eye contact and asking what them you can help with is a major theft deterrent, even if the employee doesn’t stick by the customer. With typical holiday traffic you need all the theft deterrent you can get, and given the expected slower sales season this year, I expect they’re trying to minimize shrinkage.
2) Greeting customers, making eye contact and asking what them you can help with is a major sales driver; it relaxes people and makes them feel better, like someone cares, even if the customer knows it’s superficial and policy. This is especially important during spending seasons when everyone is feeling rushed and harried. Again, with slower sales predicted, they’re likely trying to capture as many sales as possible.
This has all been researched to death. The psychology of retail sales is kind of amazing, really, and cold blooded. My wife owns a retail store and they use all these same tactics.
Even given both our histories, knowing what’s happening both engaging in these tactics ourselves, we both see ourselves affected by it; the psychology works on pretty much everyone, even if we find it annoying.
Next time this happens, think about it and see how you feel.
Goodie
The primary drivers for psychological research in the first part of the 20th century were military job match (the US Army used in WWI used personality tests, interest inventories, and ability tests to place draftees into jobs – and still does so today), advertising, and retail. It works, and its’ made all of those areas more productive.
Dave F
What little I have done in reading about persuasion techniques, once you know what they are doing and why, its way easier to just ignore those techniques and move on and not be annoyed with them just doing their jobs.
When I noticed the same at my local Lowe’s, my first thought was “Corporate sent out a directive. But they still dont stock what I need.” 🙂
Nate
On average, it works, sure.
But for some fraction of customers, it’s a grating, deer-in-headlights social moment that makes the visit really uncomfortable.
Has that research ever considered whether certain store types might be more frequented by certain personality types, and whether this sort of initiative might alienate some of their best customers?
Patrick
I find aggressive customer service irritating. Be around and if I need help I’ll ask for it, but don’t keep interrupting me every few minutes. Maybe it’s a millennial thing but most of my friends and peers share the same view. I don’t go to ace very much just because I can’t stand the employees hovering around me while I figure out what I want.
Dave F
When I was in school, I worked retail grocery and department store. They told us the greeting was mostly for theft deterrence. Apparently, if someone speaks to a potential thief, the potential thief feels less secure that they will get away with it and will be less likely to steal something.
Be that as it may, my local Lowe’s is doing the same thing. Constant greeting from the staff. One guy greeted me twice within about 10 minutes in different areas of the store. SMH
Dave F
DOH!! I see Jason posted something similar. Gotta read all the comments. 🙂