Home Depot offers cheap prices and convenient hours. Sometimes you have to finish a project and need a can of paint at 5 PM on a Sunday. In that situation you have no choice but to head to Home Depot. The problem I have with Home Depot is that the quality is not the same as products from other stores.
Some vendors whose products are carried by Home Depot have told me that the store does not like raising its prices. So, a company initially offers a quality product and gives the store a huge discount because of the large sales volume. Over time, the manufacturing costs of a product might go up. Since the store does not like raising its prices, the manufacturer is forced to absorb those additional costs. After a while, they can no longer continue absorbing those prices and has no choice but to lower the quality of the product offered. For example, they might start shortening their guarantee period, and eventually they have to make an inferior product to keep costs down.
Home Depot products might look identical to products sold in other stores. Most of the time it is impossible to tell. Sometimes their lumber is undersized by a small fraction of an inch. This was clear to me when my father ran out of lumber on a project and ran to Home Depot for some boards. Once he cut the new boards his measurements were off because of the undersized lumber.
A contractor friend of mine bought a ladder from Home Depot. It looked exactly like the same model he had bought from a hardware store. However, the quality was not nearly the same. The rivets started to fail after just a few months of usage, while his other ladders lasted for years.
Saving money is very important for everyone. That is why we often price shop for goods and services. However, price is only one element in the equation. Value is much better measurement because it compares the price to the quality. If you buy a good quality product it will last for years and the cost per year is very little. If you buy a poor quality product, the price might be lower but product might need to be replaced soon, so it ends up costing you more than the good quality product.
I have yet to be dissatisfied with buying the best quality product I can afford. This is true of everything, from electrical materials, vehicles, services and tools. However, there have been many times where I bought a cheaper quality product and ended up frustrated. Home Depot prices may be lower, but the quality is not the same.
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