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Thread: Home improvement chains worried about bottom line: nobody knows how to use their products

  1. #1

    Exclamation Home improvement chains worried about bottom line: nobody knows how to use their products

    Home Depot Panics Over Millennials; Forced To Host Tutorials On Using Tape Measures, Hammering Nails

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-1...measures-hamme

    by Tyler Durden

    Oct 10, 2017

    As wall street analysts celebrate the coming of age of the millennial generation, a group of young people who were supposed to lead another revolutionary wave of consumerism if only they could work long enough to escape their parents' basement, retailers like Home Depot are panicked about selling into what will soon be America's largest demographic...but not for the reasons you might think.

    While avocado resellers like Whole Foods only have to worry about creating a catchy advertising campaign to attract millennials, Home Depot is in full-on panic mode after realizing that an entire generation of Americans have absolutely no clue how to use their products. As the Wall Street Journal points out, the company has been forced to spend millions to create video tutorials and host in-store classes on how to do everything from using a tape measure to mopping a floor and hammering a nail.

    Home Depot's VP of marketing admits she was originally hesitant because she thought some of their videos might be a bit too "condescending" but she quickly learned they were very necessary for our pampered millennials.

    In June the company introduced a series of online workshops, including videos on how to use a tape measure and how to hide cords, that were so basic some executives worried they were condescending. “You have to start somewhere,” Mr. Decker says.

    Lisa DeStefano, Home Depot vice president of marketing, initially hesitated looking over the list of proposed video lessons, chosen based on high-frequency online search queries. “Were we selling people short? Were these just too obvious?” she says she asked her team. On the tape-measure tutorial, “I said ‘come on, how many things can you say about it?’ ” Ms. DeStefano says.

    Meanwhile, Scotts Miracle-Gro has been forced to start training classes to remind frustrated millennials, who can't seem to keep their flowers alive, that plants need sunlight to grow (apparently not a single millennial ever took biology in grade school). Commenting on the tutorials, a defeated VP of Corporate Affairs, Jim King, admitted "these are simple things we wouldn’t have really thought to do or needed to do 15 to 20 years ago"...sorry, Mr. King this is your life now.

    The Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. has started offering gardening lessons for young homeowners that cover basic tips—really, really basic—like making sure sunlight can reach plants.

    “These are simple things we wouldn’t have really thought to do or needed to do 15 to 20 years ago,” says Jim King, senior vice president of corporate affairs for Scotts. “But this is a group who may not have grown up putting their hands in the dirt growing their vegetable garden in mom and dad’s backyard.”

    “They grew up playing soccer, having dance recitals and playing an Xbox,” says Scott’s Mr. King. “They probably didn’t spend as much time helping mom and dad out in the yard as their predecessors or their predecessors’ predecessors.”

    Companies such as Scotts, Home Depot Inc., Procter & Gamble Co. , Williams-Sonoma Inc.’s West Elm and the Sherwin-Williams Co. are hosting classes and online tutorials to teach such basic skills as how to mow the lawn, use a tape measure, mop a floor, hammer a nail and pick a paint color.

    Unfortunately, at least for the Home Depots of the world, millennials now represent the largest demographic in America with 4.75 million 26 year olds roaming the streets of New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles without a clue as to how to use a tape measure.

    The biggest single age cohort today in the U.S. is 26-year-olds, who number 4.8 million, according to Torsten Slok, chief international economist for Deutsche Bank . People 25, 27 and 24 follow close behind, in that order. Many are on the verge of life-defining moments such as choosing a career, buying a house and having children.

    Millennials as a whole are America’s latest demographic bubble, overtaking the baby boom generation and, like them, transforming popular culture, retailing, media and lifestyles. They make up about 42% of all home buyers today, and 71% of all first-time home buyers, according to Zillow Group . Some 86% of millennial home buyers reported making at least one improvement to their home in the past year, more than any other generation, Zillow says.
    Another mark of a tyrant is that he likes foreigners better than citizens, and lives with them and invites them to his table; for the one are enemies, but the Others enter into no rivalry with him. - Aristotle's Politics Book 5 Part 11



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  3. #2
    "You know that star-shaped screwdriver? A Phillips-Head screwdriver? I dunno, it looks like a star."



    This is where public school has taken us.
    “The spirits of darkness are now among us. We have to be on guard so that we may realize what is happening when we encounter them and gain a real idea of where they are to be found. The most dangerous thing you can do in the immediate future will be to give yourself up unconsciously to the influences which are definitely present.” ~ Rudolf Steiner

  4. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by donnay View Post
    "You know that star-shaped screwdriver? A Phillips-Head screwdriver? I dunno, it looks like a star."

    This is where public school has taken us.
    And at the same time, the local 36k/year private high school has a class just for "furniture making" where they design and make their own furniture from scratch during the semester -- really impressive stuff. All for really rich kids that will probably never end up doing any carpentry/building in their adult life.

  5. #4
    I had fun at my work one time, where I was told an engineer and a manager tried drilling holes in concrete to attach some stuff, with a cordless drill... I then spotted one of them looking in a room where they were not going to find a hammer drill, and asked what they were looking for... Then when I was told, I said, follow me to my car, I've got one with me, 10 minutes later all the necessary holes were drilled. But yeah, what can I say...
    "I am a bird"

  6. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by donnay View Post
    "You know that star-shaped screwdriver? A Phillips-Head screwdriver? I dunno, it looks like a star."



    This is where public school has taken us.
    This is where public schools, absent parents, and prolonged childhood have taken us.

  7. #6
    Maybe its a business opportunity for some RPF members to offer private "how to be a man" classes.

  8. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by specsaregood View Post
    Maybe its a business opportunity for some RPF members to offer private "how to be a man" classes.

  9. #8
    Clearly you all have not been on Pinterest. Women know how to do all of that.
    #NashvilleStrong

    “I’m a doctor. That’s a baby.”~~~Dr. Manny Sethi



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  11. #9
    I'll just put this clip right here"



    “The spirits of darkness are now among us. We have to be on guard so that we may realize what is happening when we encounter them and gain a real idea of where they are to be found. The most dangerous thing you can do in the immediate future will be to give yourself up unconsciously to the influences which are definitely present.” ~ Rudolf Steiner

  12. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by luctor-et-emergo View Post
    I had fun at my work one time, where I was told an engineer and a manager tried drilling holes in concrete to attach some stuff, with a cordless drill... I then spotted one of them looking in a room where they were not going to find a hammer drill, and asked what they were looking for... Then when I was told, I said, follow me to my car, I've got one with me, 10 minutes later all the necessary holes were drilled. But yeah, what can I say...
    I put in anchors with my cordless hammer drill all the time.

  13. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by specsaregood View Post
    Maybe its a business opportunity for some RPF members to offer private "how to be a man" classes.
    As I've moved past 50, believe me, I am considering it.

  14. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by euphemia View Post
    Clearly you all have not been on Pinterest. Women know how to do all of that.
    Don't doubt it. There's this one young woman that if I need anything machined I take it to her. I guess her shop doesn't have an HR department because every time I've been there she is the one dishing it out. Fiery red head that knows her $#@! and doesn't take any.

  15. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by phill4paul View Post
    I put in anchors with my cordless hammer drill all the time.
    And you probably finish projects that you started too.
    Pfizer Macht Frei!

    Openly Straight Man, Danke, Awarded Top Rated Influencer. Community Standards Enforcer.


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  16. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Danke View Post
    And you probably finish projects that you started too.
    Ouch....


  17. #15
    Actually things are easier today than ever if you drop the cash . At home depot you can get a drill , an impact drill , two batteries and a charger for 100 FRNs , an air pump that runs off those batteries for 25 for tire inflation , they make flashlights too that take those batteries, over at Menards they have battery operated 1/2 drive impacts that can be used for tire rotation , changes . You got cordless Sawzalls etc .
    Last edited by oyarde; 10-11-2017 at 05:08 PM.

  18. #16
    Last Christmas at HD , I picked up a new Ryobi drill bit set for 3 FRN's and a Driver set for another 3 FRN's . That is cheap . I cannot get a draft beer in a restaurant for that .



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  20. #17
    Personally it works just fine for me that people are becoming more and more useless. As an electrical contractor the market is growing as less and less people know how to do basic things. Home improvement projects are being hired out rather than done by the homeowners.

    I don't laugh at the people who can't change a simple light out, I just hold my hand out when the job is done. Pays the bills.
    No - No - No - No
    2016

  21. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by phill4paul View Post
    I put in anchors with my cordless hammer drill all the time.
    Sure, but also in (very hard) concrete?
    "I am a bird"

  22. #19
    As the Wall Street Journal points out, the company has been forced to spend millions to create video tutorials and host in-store classes on how to do everything from using a tape measure to mopping a floor and hammering a nail.

    Home Depot's VP of marketing admits she was originally hesitant because she thought some of their videos might be a bit too "condescending" but she quickly learned they were very necessary for our pampered millennials.
    I only wish the VP of Human Resources would make new hires watch some of those

  23. #20

    Don't need a weather man to know which way the wind blows

  24. #21
    Even "real" carpenters balk at curved stairs, son's learning to build them at 13, he was involved in building a few flights several years ago but doesn't remember much....

    Hopefully it'll sink in...



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