Have you ever wondered why you can’t buy Milwaukee Tools from Lowes? Here’s the scoop:

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This Is Why Lowe's Doesn't Sell Milwaukee Tools - SlashGear

Don't go heading to a Lowe's store hoping to purchase yourself some Milwaukee tools. The retailer doesn't sell them anymore and here's the reason why.
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If you've checked into your local Lowe's hardware, you've probably noticed a glaring omission on the power tools section: Milwaukee. Despite it being one of the leading U.S. manufacturers of power tools, accessories, and outdoor equipment for more than a century, Milwaukee products are nowhere to be found on Lowe's shelves. Well, the absence isn't accidental—it traces back to a business fallout.

Read More: https://www.slashgear.com/1963153/why-lowes-does-not-sell-milwaukee-tools/
 
Menards also had a falling-out with Milwaukee Tools about 15-20 years ago. At one time they also sold Milwaukee Tools until Menards placed some unreasonable demands on Milwaukee and that was that.
 
Cheese said:
Menards also had a falling-out with Milwaukee Tools about 15-20 years ago. At one time they also sold Milwaukee Tools until Menards placed some unreasonable demands on Milwaukee and that was that.
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A Google search shows that Menards does not sell Milwaukee or DeWalt tools. No word as to why.

We don’t have Menards stores in New York, so I’ve never been in one. Are they very different from Lowe’s or Home Depot?

I shop from Northern Tool (best deals), and Amazon on line. Both Lowes and Home Depot are exactly 2 miles from my house, but Lowes is cleaner and better organized and I usually go there. But I did buy my refrigerator from Home Depot, which offered quicker delivery.
 
I was unaware of the past lawsuit - I just figured that because TTI was the parent company of Milwaukee, Ridgid, and Ryobi, HD and TTI had agreed that HD would be the only big box retailer for all three.
 
Dr. P. Venkman said:
I was unaware of the past lawsuit - I just figured that because TTI was the parent company of Milwaukee, Ridgid, and Ryobi, HD and TTI had agreed that HD would be the only big box retailer for all three.
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Milwaukee and DeWalt are major players in the power tool business. Menards is a major players in the retail business.

It would have to be a pretty serious dispute for all of them to pass up all those dollars in sales.

I once mentioned at dinner with my family that I no longer shopped from Staples because I found that their billing practices to be highly suspect. Everyone at the table Pooh-Pooh-ed me and said I was being silly, except for my sister, who was a big-shot at Merck (the drug company) at that time.

She said that she had received a company-wide directive prohibiting any purchases made from Staples because of fraudulent billing practices. Some people (and companies) can’t bear to leave small change lying around on the counter and walk off with it—even when doing so costs them a small fortune.
 
Menards carries similar inventory to Lowes and Home Depot mostly in midwest. I find that pricing on similar or the same brand items are usually better that Lowes or HD. They run a 11% mail in rebate just about all year round which is in the form of store credit. Sales gimmick I wish they'd just give at the register or at least make electronic but they probably have done the math on people not spending the time to mail the form. One isolated example is that they have Bessey K-body Revo 24" clamps for about $45 and $40 after rebate. HD website is same clamp as $55.
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I'll read the article shortly, but another thing in Menards favor is their Lumber yard, albeit outside almost always, actually stocks what they sell, versus Home Depot saying they can order it for you. That's why I bought my Garage siding from Menards back in 2021. They had enough pieces of the siding in stock, I rolled my old Van up and loaded all the 12 foot long pieces I had carefully calculated I'd need. Easy and painless.
Home Depot offered visual On-Line version of the same or similar siding, but not in stock.
I did run that 11% rebate into the mail though.... :giggle: :giggle:
I had something like 80 boards of siding, some corner trim boards. As an aside, a certain Peter Halle talked me through lining up/leveling the starter course around our 70's garage, as I'd never installed siding before.....:cool::cool:
 
Cleveland has a few Menard's. I find their lumber and sheet goods selection to be better quality, more organized and competitively priced compared to both Lowe's and Home Depot. For tools, though, they seem to favor their house brand Chinese import power tools.

The 11% rebate is a pretty clever construction. All the posted prices are after the rebate. The price sucks you in, but unless you're buying a project's worth of stuff at once, most people don't bother to do the paperwork. And then among those that do, there's a high percentage who never cash in the rebate vouchers.

I wouldn't want to be in charge of the accounting for that, but in the end, they owe a huge debt that appears on the books to counter profits, but will never have to be paid.
 
jeffinsgf said:
The 11% rebate is a pretty clever construction. All the posted prices are after the rebate
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Yikes. If the rebate is in cash, I guess this is ok. Especially cash at the register.

But if it’s certificates that are mailed to you after the fact, that borders on deception. I’m sure the real price is disclosed somewhere visible enough to keep them out of trouble, but still…

I’d bet that the rebate is realized on less than 5% of sales, meaning that it only costs them less than 0.5% in the aggregate.
 
I think they are avoiding any conflict on price by clearly labeling every pricing sign "After Rebate" and stating it clearly in their television ads. The real price is there, but hard to find...and in really small print.

I would wager the rebate participation is higher than 5%, but I wouldn't want to guess how much higher.
 
jeffinsgf said:
All the posted prices are after the rebate.
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I do not find this to be the case at my local store. The in store prices on the shelves are BEFORE any rebate. For prices on the website, they do emphasize the rebate price, but the pre-rebate price is clearly there to see. For example, the Bessey clamp I sited earlier:
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Packard said:
A Google search shows that Menards does not sell Milwaukee or DeWalt tools. No word as to why.

We don’t have Menards stores in New York, so I’ve never been in one. Are they very different from Lowe’s or Home Depot?

I shop from Northern Tool (best deals), and Amazon on line. Both Lowes and Home Depot are exactly 2 miles from my house, but Lowes is cleaner and better organized and I usually go there. But I did buy my refrigerator from Home Depot, which offered quicker delivery.
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Menards has a much better candy isle, and some you can purchase groceries and dairy products.

Tom
 
shanegrilah said:
I do not find this to be the case at my local store. The in store prices on the shelves are BEFORE any rebate. For prices on the website, they do emphasize the rebate price, but the pre-rebate price is clearly there to see. For example, the Bessey clamp I sited earlier:
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I think you just proved my point. Even though you are correct that the everyday price is "first", it certainly isn't what draws your eye.

I'm not opposed to Menard's system. I just encourage everyone to walk in the door with their eyes open and their glasses on and make sure you keep your receipts and grab a rebate form on your way out the door. AND FILL IT OUT.
 
I would say that the Garage project was the only time I used the rebate program at Menards, but was also the single biggest amount I’ve ever spent at their store.
Have really never bought tools from them.
Consumables for tools , yes, but no Master Force stuff in my inventory..
 
I'm in the fortunate position to have several Menards...Home Depot...and Lowes stores all within a 3-5 mile radius. I shop at each store and purchase what each store offers for the best value vs quality. I think Menards sells the best lumber and their special orders usually only take around 7 days. Home Depot has a better tool selection because they offer Milwaukee and I think Lowes has a better selection of stainless fasteners and has inventory of Schluter products.

I ordered 2 powered Velux skylights from Menards and each Velux was $200 cheaper than what HD wanted and that was before the 11% discount. :)

The best part about the Menards system is when you suddenly find a rebate voucher in the mail for $150...kind of like Christmas. :cool:
 
For power tools I decide _what_ I want to buy and then go looking for a place that sells it. Place Y not selling brand X is of near zero concern to me.
 
I live out west and we don't have Menards but my wife's family is from northern MN and I always end up doing cabin maintenance when we visit and usually make several hardware shopping trips every summer. When I'm out there I much prefer Menards to the local HD stores but my take is the MN & WI Home Depots I've visited are definitely a couple notches down from HD stores where I live. To some degree disorganized, empty shelves and not quite as tidy as I'm used to at home. Menards has better pricing (but I'm providing free labor and Father in law buys materials so I don't price shop too hard :) ). Their tool offerings seem kinda Harbor Freight-ish.

Perhaps Menards being the dominant regional player has better staff and tighter supply chains??
 
Back home the Menards, Home Depot mad Lowes were directly across the street from each other. Menards opened a new mega store about a block south knocked down the tilt up concrete original, ground it up for the parking lot base for the new store.

Tom
 
Menards used to have a much more restrictive date by which the rebate had to be sent in by. I shop at Menards for the majority of purchases for which they carry. However, as said by others, their tool selection is quite lacking. They do offer some Bosch stuff, but pretty much everything else is their Horror Freight quality store brand stuff. For power tools, I end up going to either Acme Tools, or Home Depot, (nearest Lowes is over 100 miles away) . If Home Depot has it, they also give a 10% discount to veterans and active duty military, and that can be significant, especially when you're buying Milwaukee, Dewalt, Makita and others.

Menards did, however, make it easier to deal with their rebate program this year when they extended the date by which rebates must be submitted, into the next year. We just keep all our rebate certificates and mail in a bunch together at a time. I have hundreds of dollars of "merchandise credits" sitting on the refrigerator, but with Menards being the go-to place in town, they will definitely get used.
 
A friend of mine after college was wealthy. His father made his fortune with “Triple-H Trading Stamps”. Each time you made a purchase at the supermarket they would give you gummed stamps to stick in booklets. You could redeem the filled booklets for some fairly lavish products.

The key to his father’s success was that only about 10% of the stamps were ever redeemed. But 100% of the stamps were carried as financial liabilities in their accounting books.

So they made 10 million dollars in fees from the super markets, but only gave out 1 million dollars worth of goods. They paid almost no taxes as their liabilities on the books showed that they made nearly no profit. The IRS finally closed that loophole and they closed the business. But not before Teddy got one million dollars on his 18th birthday, and a significantly greater amount when he inherited.

I have little doubt that Menards was doing the same. They were carrying all those coupons as liabilities, and thus reducing their profit (on paper only). Since a large portion did not fill out the forms and even more never redeemed the coupons, the coupons were huge profit builders. The IRS probably caught on and said that only the actual redeemed coupons could be claimed as liabilities. At that point they put an expiration date on the coupons.

Nothing else make sense.

The trading stamp industry crashed and burned in the early 1960s. There was probably no one left at the IRS that was of that era when Menards started the coupons. So they had a reasonably long run before the IRS caught on.

Note: A little Google search shows that the correct term was Triple-S Blue Stamps.
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