7 ms·

Given the absolute state of their website on mobile it's hardly surprising. It's faster to find an employee and ask them where an item is at instead of waiting

Given the absolute state of their website on mobile it's hardly surprising. It's faster to find an employee and ask them where an item is at instead of waiting for the search to finish, see that it the "current store" now points to a random location somewhere in a different state, pick the correct store and re-do the search

kldavis4 10mo ago
+1 also, when I'm in my local store it seems like cell connection goes to shit for some reason and then I have to jump on their in store wifi in order to search their website
- paleotrope 10mo ago
  They probably don't have any repeaters. All those metal shelves are going to interfere with the signal. I have the same experience.
  - inferiorhuman 10mo ago
    Their in-store WiFi is a repeater more or less. It's one of those bullshit forced auto-join networks that you can't opt out of (at least on iOS). Because that's not a massive vector for phishing or anything.
    - mirashii 10mo ago
      This is a network carrier setting, the issue is that T-Mobile (and maybe others) pushes a profile that does this as part of their network configuration.
      - inferiorhuman 10mo ago
        Right, so you can't opt-out of it.
        klardotsh 10mo ago
        I went to Wi-Fi settings, "Edit" in top right, scroll to bottom "Managed" section, and was able to turn off "Auto-Join" for the "t-mobile" managed network just fine. I did this many months ago, I think because I was infuriated at the idea of auto-connecting to a Wi-Fi network I did not opt in to, but regardless, the checkbox has remained off through a few OS updates since (on 26.1 now with a T-Mo prepaid eSIM).
        inferiorhuman 10mo ago
        There's no "Managed" section showing up on my phone and the last time I set that network to not auto-join it still did. Lesson learned, I just turn off WiFi and Bluetooth before heading out to Home Depot.
    - freedomben 10mo ago
      Yes, although I've had terrible experience with their wifi. I'm sure it depends on the store, but coverage is usually terrible and highly spotty, so if you're walking around or standing in the wrong area, it stops working. At one point I also had to disable wireguard because I think it was triggering some sort of anti-abuse thing they had. It wasn't even using an exit node, just bridging me to my home network so I could access self-hosted services. I get the desire for anti-abuse, but that felt pretty draconian and I don't expect the average person to consider they might have to disable a VPN to get it to work, especially nowadays when many average people do have VPNs running.
    - yelling_cat 10mo ago
      I was livid when I discovered that my carrier had implemented that with no opt out. I worked around it by implementing shortcuts that disable my iPhone's WiFi when I leave my house until I've returned or reached one of the handful of other places I use it. It's ridiculous that something like that is necessary, though.
- fn-mote 10mo ago
  Always wondered if this was a deliberate strategy to enable more tracking… but it sounds way beyond the ability of their corporate planning.
- danudey 10mo ago
  > when I'm in my local store it seems like cell connection goes to shit for some reason It's a giant steel and concrete box, that's probably the reason.
craftkiller 10mo ago
If you go to the home depot page for torque wrenches and click the filter for drive size, you get this list: 1/2 in 1/4 in 1 in 3/8 in 3/4 in Specialty Here is the same list in decimal to make the insanity plainly obvious: 0.5 0.25 1 0.375 0.75 What sadistic lunatic made that sort order?! It's not based on size and it's not alphabetic.
- tomjakubowski 10mo ago
  I had to check what the gold standard McMaster-Carr does: their torque wrench drive size widget is sorted 1/4", 3/8", 1/2", 3/4", 1", 1 1/2". Glorious. https://www.mcmaster.com/products/torque-wrenches/ https://www.mcmaster.com/products/torque-wrenches/
  - jjice 10mo ago
    I'd expect nothing less from them. The right thing to do here is to implement a sorting key for different categories here. Since McMaster-Carr seems to be going to a category when you search, they seem to have better control over the available filters. I've found that on a site like Amazon or Walmart that'll let you do a more freeform sort, the filter options becomes absolutely god awful. Well done by McMaster-Carr. I assume they control their inventory a bit more than a marketplace like Home Depot, Walmart, or Amazon, so that's also an advantage.
    - pacoWebConsult 10mo ago
      The schemas for Amazon and Walmart's product information are absolutely bonkers and constantly missing features that they demand be provided. Here's the XML Schema Definition for "Product" on Amazon [1] This is joined on each of the linked category schemas included at the type, of which each has unique properties that ultimately drive the metadata on a particular listing for the SKU. Its wrought with inconsistency, duplicated fields, and oftentimes not up-to-date with required information. Ultimately, this product catalog information gets provided to Amazon, Walmart, Target, and any other large 3rd party marketplace site as a feed file from a vendor to drive what product they can then list pricing and inventory against (through similar feeds). You are right that the control McMaster-Carr has on their catalog is the strategic and technological advantage. [1]: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/01/rainier/help/xsd/release_4_1/Product.xsd https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/01/rainier/...
RankingMember 10mo ago
Thanks for reminding me to uninstall that godawful app, which is like their website, but somehow even slower/clunkier.
porphyra 10mo ago
I feel like the home depot website is fine. It's a lot better than most other shops, I've had a good experience finding the aisle and location of items, and it's generally accurate with the amount in stock at each location. If you didn't enable precise location or have bad cell signal then that is hardly the fault of the website.
- rigrassm 10mo ago
  Nah, I use both the website and their shitty web wrapper app on a regular basis and it's been a dumpster fire for at least the last 2-3 years. 3-5 years ago when they first rebuilt everything it was much more pleasant but at this point it's clear no one is maintaining it and have just let it bloat and rot
- VTimofeenko 10mo ago
  I will not argue with the stock part. When the search _does_ finish, stock info is usually correct IME. What grinds my gears is the speed of this search, regardless of the phone reception. Even on the desktop it feels like they have a bunch of interns running a sneakernet. Or the website is laden with pointless javascript that slows everything down before the search is actually performed. I go to the same Home Depot every time. (Well I don't if I can help it, but that's beside the point). There is no reason they cannot store the preferred store in the localStorage or cookies or wherever else. Other stores have figured this out.
  - danudey 10mo ago
    > Other stores have figured this out. Not CostCo though! I open their page and immediately 'Can Costco.ca use your location?" I say yes and then it asks me what province I'm in. I tell it, and then it defaults me to a store 30 minutes' drive from here and not the one five minutes away. Every. Time.
    - bombcar 10mo ago
      Costco’s website is worse than useless. It doesn’t tell you anything useful beyond the hours. I have to believe it’s intentional.
MSFT_Edging 10mo ago
Jokes on you, all the employees do is use their mobile site as well.
- jgbuddy 10mo ago
  MSFT Edging
freedomben 10mo ago
Indeed, Home Depot's software is generally so bad. I remember around 2017/2018 time frame when they started showing up to big tech conferences (especially K8s and React.js conferences) really trying to modernize. I spent a few minutes talking to the people manning the booth (which were surprisingly high ranking in the company, at least by title), and came away thinking "I'm glad you're making an effort, but y'all really have no idea what you're doing." The left hand and the right hand had completely different ideas/priorities about how to accomplish their goals. I didn't want to make any judgments on a simple conversation at a conference, but at this point I think time has shown that it was pretty representative of how they were approaching it internally, and unsurprisingly it did not work out super well. Now that said, I don't want to minimize the difficulty in modernizing software at a corp like HD. It's wildly more difficult than most people can appreciate. I've consulted for companies trying to do it, and there are lots of challenges with legacy systems, migrations, and plenty of non-technical challenges as well. Shout out to Wal-mart for genuinely kicking ass at this though. I'm quickly becoming an Onn fanboy. Genearlly speaking, great products at great prices, from their USB cables up to their smart speakers and more. You can really tell from the product design and implementation that they are letting the nerds geek out and have fun! That in turn enables me to do the same :-)
- rpcope1 10mo ago
  I'll bet money any new React/K8s/${WEBSCALE} stuff they're building is still just a wrapper over the same old inventory management they've been using for years...probably something like JDEdwards on AS/400.
  - grosales 10mo ago
    You would lose that bet. Walmart has invested a LOT in modernizing stuff over the last 10 years. You cannot deliver groceries in less than an hour using the old inventory. It's not perfect, but what it's been done given the scale , it's nothing short of a miracle. Source: I have been working there for 10 years.
    - eep_social 10mo ago
TallGuyShort 10mo ago
I've never had an employee know what a tool is, much less where to find it. All they're doing is doing this process on a slower, ruggedized phone. I literally watched someone Google "masonry bit" right in front of me.
- darrylb42 10mo ago
  Though they should be on in store wifi. The big steel box store is a faraday cage that doesn't let the internet in.
- patagurbon 10mo ago
  The store I worked at for a while had a surprising number of real bearded experts, alongside at least a few younger folks who really understood the internal systems. It was great, but clearly was eroding as the experts retired and young folks with no experience were hired to replace them.
- sh34r 10mo ago
  It varies a lot by store. I’ve been to HDs where they’re all useless, and others where there’s a good number of knowledgeable DIYers working there. I think a lot of people just expect too much from a big box store employee making $17/hr… You go to HD because you have an easy job and you’re as cheap as their MBAs. If you need help, go to a supply house or an Ace Hardware or something.
  - klardotsh 10mo ago
    Fully this. Every Ace or Do It Best I've been to in Washington has had at least one Rugged Grandpa ™ on staff who could have given me a PhD-level essay on whatever I asked them about; at Home Depot I'm lucky if the folks there have any idea what an impact-rated bit is or why I specifically need one and NO please stop trying to sell me this other crap if you're sold out of the impact bits, they are NOT the same! (It gets worse the further from the power tools section you get, I find. I had to explain the difference between a three-prong and four-prong 240V plug once at HD and promptly told my friend to stop asking the staff for "help" finding things.)
pkaye 10mo ago
Its hard to locate anything in their stores these days and its even harder to find any staff. So what I do is order for pickup and let them do the work.
rurp 10mo ago
I literally couldn't load their website with my previous Pixel phone. The performance was so terrible it would grind to a halt and freeze or crash.
hinkley 10mo ago
> the "current store" now points to a random location somewhere in a different state I thought that was just me. It gets the first, maybe the second digit of the zip code right and that's about it.
Rebelgecko 10mo ago
Someone made their own version of the HD app that works much better: https://www.reddit.com/r/Tools/comments/1opufvq/a_lightweight_fast_alternative_to_the_home_depot/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Tools/comments/1opufvq/a_lightweigh...
sowbug 10mo ago
Or when the site tells you your store doesn't have a part in stock, but neglects to tell you that they do have 350 of the identical part, different brand, in stock. Because who would ever buy a 1/2-inch close Halex rigid conduit close nipple in-store right now when they could wait a few days for a 1/2-inch close Commercial Electric rigid conduit nipple?
denysvitali 10mo ago
Someone should use their GH token to fix their website
y-c-o-m-b 10mo ago
I think the same people/platform made the Best Buy mobile website, they look very similar. Just absolutely atrocious design. It's slow, the UI elements bounce all over the place, it forgets your selections, and godspeed if for whatever reason you need to refresh the page because something chose not to render. That's outside of the store on a good connection. Doing this IN the store is a whole new level of hair pulling frustration. Also I once asked an employee for help locating an item and they told me to pull up the app. I was like "you pull up the app", and we sat there for 5 minutes waiting for things to load until he decided he'll just help me locate the item lol
- danudey 10mo ago
  I'm just happy that Best Buy recently added the ability to filter out items they cannot actually sell me. The amount of searches I would do where I had to scroll through page after page of 'not available online' 'not available in store' items in order to find a search result they actually had was ridiculous. Now Home Depot for some reason just doesn't load on mobile (white screen) unless I disable content filtering in the browser. Classy.
datavirtue 10mo ago
Exactly, their site and apps are trash.
srathi 10mo ago
Not as bad as Costco. Their app and website are still stuck in 90s.

kldavis4 10mo ago

+1 also, when I'm in my local store it seems like cell connection goes to shit for some reason and then I have to jump on their in store wifi in order to search their website

paleotrope 10mo ago
They probably don't have any repeaters. All those metal shelves are going to interfere with the signal. I have the same experience.
- inferiorhuman 10mo ago
  Their in-store WiFi is a repeater more or less. It's one of those bullshit forced auto-join networks that you can't opt out of (at least on iOS). Because that's not a massive vector for phishing or anything.
  - mirashii 10mo ago
    This is a network carrier setting, the issue is that T-Mobile (and maybe others) pushes a profile that does this as part of their network configuration.
    - inferiorhuman 10mo ago
      Right, so you can't opt-out of it.
      - klardotsh 10mo ago
        I went to Wi-Fi settings, "Edit" in top right, scroll to bottom "Managed" section, and was able to turn off "Auto-Join" for the "t-mobile" managed network just fine. I did this many months ago, I think because I was infuriated at the idea of auto-connecting to a Wi-Fi network I did not opt in to, but regardless, the checkbox has remained off through a few OS updates since (on 26.1 now with a T-Mo prepaid eSIM).
        inferiorhuman 10mo ago
        There's no "Managed" section showing up on my phone and the last time I set that network to not auto-join it still did. Lesson learned, I just turn off WiFi and Bluetooth before heading out to Home Depot.
  - freedomben 10mo ago
    Yes, although I've had terrible experience with their wifi. I'm sure it depends on the store, but coverage is usually terrible and highly spotty, so if you're walking around or standing in the wrong area, it stops working. At one point I also had to disable wireguard because I think it was triggering some sort of anti-abuse thing they had. It wasn't even using an exit node, just bridging me to my home network so I could access self-hosted services. I get the desire for anti-abuse, but that felt pretty draconian and I don't expect the average person to consider they might have to disable a VPN to get it to work, especially nowadays when many average people do have VPNs running.
  - yelling_cat 10mo ago
    I was livid when I discovered that my carrier had implemented that with no opt out. I worked around it by implementing shortcuts that disable my iPhone's WiFi when I leave my house until I've returned or reached one of the handful of other places I use it. It's ridiculous that something like that is necessary, though.
fn-mote 10mo ago
Always wondered if this was a deliberate strategy to enable more tracking… but it sounds way beyond the ability of their corporate planning.
danudey 10mo ago
> when I'm in my local store it seems like cell connection goes to shit for some reason It's a giant steel and concrete box, that's probably the reason.

craftkiller 10mo ago

If you go to the home depot page for torque wrenches and click the filter for drive size, you get this list: 1/2 in 1/4 in 1 in 3/8 in 3/4 in Specialty Here is the same list in decimal to make the insanity plainly obvious: 0.5 0.25 1 0.375 0.75 What sadistic lunatic made that sort order?! It's not based on size and it's not alphabetic.

tomjakubowski 10mo ago
I had to check what the gold standard McMaster-Carr does: their torque wrench drive size widget is sorted 1/4", 3/8", 1/2", 3/4", 1", 1 1/2". Glorious. https://www.mcmaster.com/products/torque-wrenches/ https://www.mcmaster.com/products/torque-wrenches/
- jjice 10mo ago
  I'd expect nothing less from them. The right thing to do here is to implement a sorting key for different categories here. Since McMaster-Carr seems to be going to a category when you search, they seem to have better control over the available filters. I've found that on a site like Amazon or Walmart that'll let you do a more freeform sort, the filter options becomes absolutely god awful. Well done by McMaster-Carr. I assume they control their inventory a bit more than a marketplace like Home Depot, Walmart, or Amazon, so that's also an advantage.
  - pacoWebConsult 10mo ago
    The schemas for Amazon and Walmart's product information are absolutely bonkers and constantly missing features that they demand be provided. Here's the XML Schema Definition for "Product" on Amazon [1] This is joined on each of the linked category schemas included at the type, of which each has unique properties that ultimately drive the metadata on a particular listing for the SKU. Its wrought with inconsistency, duplicated fields, and oftentimes not up-to-date with required information. Ultimately, this product catalog information gets provided to Amazon, Walmart, Target, and any other large 3rd party marketplace site as a feed file from a vendor to drive what product they can then list pricing and inventory against (through similar feeds). You are right that the control McMaster-Carr has on their catalog is the strategic and technological advantage. [1]: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/01/rainier/help/xsd/release_4_1/Product.xsd https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/01/rainier/...

RankingMember 10mo ago

Thanks for reminding me to uninstall that godawful app, which is like their website, but somehow even slower/clunkier.

porphyra 10mo ago

I feel like the home depot website is fine. It's a lot better than most other shops, I've had a good experience finding the aisle and location of items, and it's generally accurate with the amount in stock at each location. If you didn't enable precise location or have bad cell signal then that is hardly the fault of the website.

rigrassm 10mo ago
Nah, I use both the website and their shitty web wrapper app on a regular basis and it's been a dumpster fire for at least the last 2-3 years. 3-5 years ago when they first rebuilt everything it was much more pleasant but at this point it's clear no one is maintaining it and have just let it bloat and rot
VTimofeenko 10mo ago
I will not argue with the stock part. When the search _does_ finish, stock info is usually correct IME. What grinds my gears is the speed of this search, regardless of the phone reception. Even on the desktop it feels like they have a bunch of interns running a sneakernet. Or the website is laden with pointless javascript that slows everything down before the search is actually performed. I go to the same Home Depot every time. (Well I don't if I can help it, but that's beside the point). There is no reason they cannot store the preferred store in the localStorage or cookies or wherever else. Other stores have figured this out.
- danudey 10mo ago
  > Other stores have figured this out. Not CostCo though! I open their page and immediately 'Can Costco.ca use your location?" I say yes and then it asks me what province I'm in. I tell it, and then it defaults me to a store 30 minutes' drive from here and not the one five minutes away. Every. Time.
  - bombcar 10mo ago
    Costco’s website is worse than useless. It doesn’t tell you anything useful beyond the hours. I have to believe it’s intentional.

MSFT_Edging 10mo ago

Jokes on you, all the employees do is use their mobile site as well.

jgbuddy 10mo ago
MSFT Edging

freedomben 10mo ago

Indeed, Home Depot's software is generally so bad. I remember around 2017/2018 time frame when they started showing up to big tech conferences (especially K8s and React.js conferences) really trying to modernize. I spent a few minutes talking to the people manning the booth (which were surprisingly high ranking in the company, at least by title), and came away thinking "I'm glad you're making an effort, but y'all really have no idea what you're doing." The left hand and the right hand had completely different ideas/priorities about how to accomplish their goals. I didn't want to make any judgments on a simple conversation at a conference, but at this point I think time has shown that it was pretty representative of how they were approaching it internally, and unsurprisingly it did not work out super well. Now that said, I don't want to minimize the difficulty in modernizing software at a corp like HD. It's wildly more difficult than most people can appreciate. I've consulted for companies trying to do it, and there are lots of challenges with legacy systems, migrations, and plenty of non-technical challenges as well. Shout out to Wal-mart for genuinely kicking ass at this though. I'm quickly becoming an Onn fanboy. Genearlly speaking, great products at great prices, from their USB cables up to their smart speakers and more. You can really tell from the product design and implementation that they are letting the nerds geek out and have fun! That in turn enables me to do the same :-)

rpcope1 10mo ago
I'll bet money any new React/K8s/${WEBSCALE} stuff they're building is still just a wrapper over the same old inventory management they've been using for years...probably something like JDEdwards on AS/400.
- grosales 10mo ago
  You would lose that bet. Walmart has invested a LOT in modernizing stuff over the last 10 years. You cannot deliver groceries in less than an hour using the old inventory. It's not perfect, but what it's been done given the scale , it's nothing short of a miracle. Source: I have been working there for 10 years.
  - eep_social 10mo ago

TallGuyShort 10mo ago

I've never had an employee know what a tool is, much less where to find it. All they're doing is doing this process on a slower, ruggedized phone. I literally watched someone Google "masonry bit" right in front of me.

darrylb42 10mo ago
Though they should be on in store wifi. The big steel box store is a faraday cage that doesn't let the internet in.
patagurbon 10mo ago
The store I worked at for a while had a surprising number of real bearded experts, alongside at least a few younger folks who really understood the internal systems. It was great, but clearly was eroding as the experts retired and young folks with no experience were hired to replace them.
sh34r 10mo ago
It varies a lot by store. I’ve been to HDs where they’re all useless, and others where there’s a good number of knowledgeable DIYers working there. I think a lot of people just expect too much from a big box store employee making $17/hr… You go to HD because you have an easy job and you’re as cheap as their MBAs. If you need help, go to a supply house or an Ace Hardware or something.
- klardotsh 10mo ago
  Fully this. Every Ace or Do It Best I've been to in Washington has had at least one Rugged Grandpa ™ on staff who could have given me a PhD-level essay on whatever I asked them about; at Home Depot I'm lucky if the folks there have any idea what an impact-rated bit is or why I specifically need one and NO please stop trying to sell me this other crap if you're sold out of the impact bits, they are NOT the same! (It gets worse the further from the power tools section you get, I find. I had to explain the difference between a three-prong and four-prong 240V plug once at HD and promptly told my friend to stop asking the staff for "help" finding things.)

pkaye 10mo ago

Its hard to locate anything in their stores these days and its even harder to find any staff. So what I do is order for pickup and let them do the work.

rurp 10mo ago

I literally couldn't load their website with my previous Pixel phone. The performance was so terrible it would grind to a halt and freeze or crash.

hinkley 10mo ago

> the "current store" now points to a random location somewhere in a different state I thought that was just me. It gets the first, maybe the second digit of the zip code right and that's about it.

Rebelgecko 10mo ago

Someone made their own version of the HD app that works much better: https://www.reddit.com/r/Tools/comments/1opufvq/a_lightweight_fast_alternative_to_the_home_depot/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Tools/comments/1opufvq/a_lightweigh...

sowbug 10mo ago

Or when the site tells you your store doesn't have a part in stock, but neglects to tell you that they do have 350 of the identical part, different brand, in stock. Because who would ever buy a 1/2-inch close Halex rigid conduit close nipple in-store right now when they could wait a few days for a 1/2-inch close Commercial Electric rigid conduit nipple?

denysvitali 10mo ago

Someone should use their GH token to fix their website

y-c-o-m-b 10mo ago

I think the same people/platform made the Best Buy mobile website, they look very similar. Just absolutely atrocious design. It's slow, the UI elements bounce all over the place, it forgets your selections, and godspeed if for whatever reason you need to refresh the page because something chose not to render. That's outside of the store on a good connection. Doing this IN the store is a whole new level of hair pulling frustration. Also I once asked an employee for help locating an item and they told me to pull up the app. I was like "you pull up the app", and we sat there for 5 minutes waiting for things to load until he decided he'll just help me locate the item lol

danudey 10mo ago
I'm just happy that Best Buy recently added the ability to filter out items they cannot actually sell me. The amount of searches I would do where I had to scroll through page after page of 'not available online' 'not available in store' items in order to find a search result they actually had was ridiculous. Now Home Depot for some reason just doesn't load on mobile (white screen) unless I disable content filtering in the browser. Classy.

datavirtue 10mo ago

Exactly, their site and apps are trash.

srathi 10mo ago

Not as bad as Costco. Their app and website are still stuck in 90s.