Tale of 3 Lumber Yards

Kristy and I spent part of our tax refund on Lowe's gift cards, anticipating the future house, and all the costs involved in that. You might know the deal, spend $90 of your refund, get $10 free for a total of $100 in gift cards.

To be completely honest, even though it's now almost 2 years later, I still miss the Menards in Goshen. They had this really cool rebate program where you got stuff "essentially" free, it took a mail in rebate, and the use of the follow-up gift certificate post card to make it free. It was a nice cycle, buy something, send in rebate to get gift certificate to buy other building supplies. Over time, I came to know where everything was located, who would know the answers to my questions, etc. The only complaint I had with them was their obnoxious jingle they played over the store system (it included banjos).

However, when it comes to pricing, which right now ranks pretty high, I noticed that Lowes isn't always the Lowest price. Musselmans Lumber has been getting our business because they have better prices and seem to have better lumber. Lowes is the classic "do-it yourself, find-it yourself" store. Sales associates don't seem to have a clue how to answer questions or find stuff, now if you can be lucky and get the department manager (as I did last night), then that's a different story...otherwise it's "yeah, that's in Aisle 12" .... okay, is that a guess, or do you know for sure.

Musselmans is set-up to serve the customer. They are smaller (obviously) and have a open office area right inside the door. It's almost the direct opposite of Lowes. For the most part, you go to them, and they get it for you. Billing and customer service are all tied together in that office area. So far, no complaints. Now let's talk after the bills come due....