Unflattering article about Menard's.

[mschrank]

Gee, makes me wish we had Menard's stores here so I could not shop there.

[germdoc]

There are enough people willing to suck it up for some extra $$$. Looks like in order to be a successful Menards manager, you basically have to channel Menard himself - be as ruthless towards your underlings, bury whatever humanity you might have and squeeze em for all they got. And rank employees - mostly unskilled labor, who know they can be easily replaced. I imagine the turnover must be fairly high.

Sounds like Capitalism 101. We would all put up with a lot of stuff if the price were right. That's what drives the economy and has since Biblical times.

I'm not gonna defend everything Menards has done, let's just say many other companies out there are tough on managers, suppliers, etc. Who they can't be tough on is the customer, otherwise they'd be out of business.

I admire Google and many other companies for their "altruistic" policies--I say that in quotes, because for most of them it's just another business strategy, like "going green" or whatever. However, in the big scheme of things Google is a niche company that happens to be successful in the very rarified environment of the internet. Very few companies can operate like Google and very few of us will ever work for them. I'll bet you a dollar to doughnuts in 5-10 years we'll be reading stories about how Google has done away with in-house massages, is screwing its employees out of their health care options and is utterly ruthless with the competition. Just like the evil giant Microsoft.

That's my .02. As long as Menards sells the same products cheaper than HD (no Lowes around here) I'll grit my teeth and "save big money at Menards"...

[messmaker]

I feel a little sick after reading the article. What a twisted man. Being rich and powerful does not make you BIG.I feel sorry for anyone who who has the bad fortune to work for him.

[cgallery]

I'll bet you a dollar to doughnuts in 5-10 years we'll be reading stories about how Google has done away with in-house massages, is screwing its employees out of their health care options and is utterly ruthless with the competition. Just like the evil giant Microsoft.

That's my .02. As long as Menards sells the same products cheaper than HD (no Lowes around here) I'll grit my teeth and "save big money at Menards"...

I paragraph #1, I couldn't agree more.

On paragraph #2, I think we're all pretty much between a rock and a hard place. Sure, we have the article about Menards. Who is to say something terrible isn't going on at HD or Lowes? Or even the locally-owned hardware store?

[Bollox]

I know a lot of guys who have worked on the Menards Indycar teams over the years and they have stories very similar to the horror stories in the article.
There was a collection amongst the Indycar paddock a few years ago for the truck driver at the Menards team who had been diagnosed with cancer. John Menard not only had the guy fired when he got too sick to work, but also managed to screw him out of his medical insurance.
It used to be a standing joke that being fired from Menards wasnt a black mark on your resume, because it was expected that no-one would last there long.
I try very hard to avoid buying stuff from Menards, and sincerely hope that John Menard rots in **** for a long long time.
Mike

[Slik Geek]

What is puzzling to me is that I shop at several Menards and Home Depot stores in my area but I have never detected a disgruntled employee at Menards. Some employees I recognize as having been there for as long as I can recall so the turnover doesn't appear to be excessive.

Home Depot is a different story. At several stores I have had various employees vent their frustration over "stupid management" or hostile management policies.

At Home Depot today, I watched understaffed cashiers (all two of them) struggle to keep up with the 8 or 10 customers waiting in line or using the worst automated checkout system ever created. While I was waiting for assistance at my automated station, another couple who waited far too long for assistance at theirs was sharing their distaste for HD. They were dreaming of a Lowes to move into the area.

The man indicated that he would certainly be responding to the Home Depot customer survey. I shared with him that my attempts at getting resolution of issues with HD management has been fruitless. I suggested that his energy might be better spent contacting Lowes begging them to open a store rather then complaining to Home Depot.

I was shopping at Menards today and a couple days ago and had several different employees go out of their way to be helpful or to accommodate me beyond the call. I never waited in line at a checkout for more than a minute (and I went through the checkout four times today alone). Every cashier had a good attitude and was joking with me. (I try to have fun to distract me from the pain of spending my money!)

I can't reconcile the story's claims and the employee behaviors that I have witnessed. I just haven't seen employees at Menards who act like their management is hostile towards them.

[cgallery]

I just haven't seen employees at Menards who act like their management is hostile towards them.

I totally agree. But it seems the problems in the article dealt primarily w/ managers.

And I know I'm going to get flamed for this. But it seems that, hard-worked staff are happy staff. People like to be productive. An example: My kids are miserable any time they sit and watch TV for a couple of hours. I come home and start barking orders ("Turn off the TV," "Mow the lawn," "Load the dishwasher," etc.) and moral actually improves after about five minutes of getting busy.

[jlm]

No doubt that the Menard family are complete a-holes... But I recall a few years ago hearing about all kinds of horror stories and lawsuits concerning how Home Depot treated its employees. It sounded like a lot of the same things this article accuses Menard of doing, plus a few Wal-Mart style discrimination lawsuits thrown in for flavor. I'm sure there are similar complaints about Lowe's, too.

This isn't to excuse Menard's policies, which are awful (if not downright illegal in some cases), but to point out that very, very few big companies behave as ethically as we would like toward employees or customers. There are a few standouts (the aforementioned Google, for example), but by and large, once you get more employees than upper management can actually interact with on a personal level, the dehumanizing begins, and it's downhill from there, until it starts to effect the bottom line, then things get a little better. Eventually, the company finds a minimum amount of respect it has to show to employees to get the lawsuits to stop and keep turnover to a minimum, and things stabilize there.

As germdoc said, watch Google. In a few years, their much-hyped "Don't Be Evil" slogan will morph into "Only Be A Little Evil", as soon as they face some real competition in their industry.

The real answer is don't shop at big-box stores, and only buy your goods from local mom-and-pop stores. Which is pretty much not an option for 99.99% of us, either for financial reasons or because the moms and pops are all out of business thanks to the big boxes.

[Jeffrey Schronce]

Apparently, manager pay is very good.

Ummm. The report stated they docked his $1000 weekly pay. I wouldn't consider $52k per year very good pay. Particularly @ 55 hrs per week. For folks thinking on an hourly basis, thats $18.18 per hour!

[scorrpio]

Ummm. The report stated they docked his $1000 weekly pay. I wouldn't consider $52k per year very good pay. Particularly @ 55 hrs per week. For folks thinking on an hourly basis, thats $18.18 per hour!

From article:
And the pay for managers was generous: $80,000 to $200,000 a year with bonus and profit-sharing included.
Maybe 1000 weekly was after taxes? Or was it a lower ranking manager?

[JR]

Maybe 1000 weekly was after taxes?

Or it was taken from the salary portion of his compensation, as opposed to "bonus and profit sharing".

JR

[prlundberg]

I just haven't seen employees at Menards who act like their management is hostile towards them.

I noticed the same thing shopping for patio furniture this weekend.

At Menards, 3 seperate employees asked if I needed assistance over about 15 minutes.

When I was looking for a certain piece at Lowes, it took about 10 minutes to find help.

I found that a bit surprising after what the article said about staffing levels, but I guess every store may be different.

I don't want to support John Menard, but I won't stop shopping there alltogether. Their selection varies from HD and Lowes and a lot of their prices are lower.

My first choice is always my local shops due to better service. They often have the same or lower prices on quality tools and other items. I also like buying screws and bolts in the quantities I need.

[greencat]

I noticed the same thing shopping for patio furniture this weekend.

At Menards, 3 seperate employees asked if I needed assistance over about 15 minutes.

When I was looking for a certain piece at Lowes, it took about 10 minutes to find help.

I found that a bit surprising after what the article said about staffing levels, but I guess every store may be different.

I don't want to support John Menard, but I won't stop shopping there alltogether. Their selection varies from HD and Lowes and a lot of their prices are lower.

My first choice is always my local shops due to better service. They often have the same or lower prices on quality tools and other items. I also like buying screws and bolts in the quantities I need.

I agree. I saw a BORG manager rip an employee because they were putting too much pop corn in the bag. He had to remind the employee that it is one scoop. I was going to complain but I remembered that this same manager was nasty to me about a paint mistake that his store made ( they used the wrong base on one of 4 gallons I purchased - it was noticeable after the paint dried. I complained then to everyone and got no where.

After reading this article I will limit my shopping at Menards.