Watch the garage sales this spring

[Bruenor]

I was at Menards earlier this week. While there, I listened to a couple of customers talking to an employee, asking if they had any generators left. He said that they had been sold out of generators for at least a day, as well as propane and kerosene heaters. It looked like chain saws were also in short supply.

As predicted by many here, people descended on the home improvement stores and bought up all the generators and heaters. Most, at least in my area, won't even need them. We've been without power for only a couple of seconds in the last 48 hours. That means that all of those generators and heaters that were bought recently are probably sitting in garages, starting to collect dust.

This spring, watch the garage sales. As people continue to trip over these prep items in their garages, at least some will doubt their thoughts in buying them, and may want to get some of their money back. You may be able to pick up new, or nearly new, items for a decent price.

[bee]

HEH!! What he said...after Y2K if I had had the ready cash I could have gotten a wood cook stove-never used- at an incredible savings...drat.

[Ohio dreamer]

Good point....I have a few $ I received at Christmas, maybe I'll just set that aside for a bit and see what turns up this summer.

[rhaige9]

Good advice. TY.

[Spatula]

I'll bet they'll show up on Craig's list and other websites too...

[oregon woodsmok]

Not around here. They'll buy them, use them or not, then return them to the store for a refund.

[Bruenor]

Originally Posted by oregon woodsmok

Not around here. They'll buy them, use them or not, then return them to the store for a refund.

Stores are cracking down on that. There were signs everywhere at Menards stating that if a generator or heater had been used, they would not allow it to be returned. Hopefully they keep to that promise, and it stops people from doing exactly what you describe.

[sewserious]

A lot of those things are out of stock this time of year anyway; so it might not have been such a "big" buy out in the first place. Lowe's is already getting in air conditioners for the summer season. Winter merchandise such as kerosene heaters is typically not reordered or restocked after Christmas.

[JuliaAnn]

During my too-lengthy employment at the hell hole known as Tractor Supply Co., I will tell you that LOTS of people buy a generator, use it, and tinker with something minor in order to return it as defective for a refund. Had pallets of them after the last hurricane, most with only 20 to 50 hours on the meters, and usually some problem that was evident as tampering as opposed to a genuine manufacturer defect. We had to hold those units in the warehouse to wait for a Black and Decker technician to come around and inspect and repair them. Got the tampering information directly from him. The generators (the 3500 watt ones) were then sold for $300.00, 'as is', spray painted with a red dot on the tank to indicate it was sold 'as is'. A few folks tried returning even those, and got their wish.

I suppose it might be up to each store mgr's. discretion whether or not to accept a returned generator and issue a refund. Knowing how TSC operates, they are like Wal Mart and will issue a refund on just about anything, for any reason, even customer damage.

Just my .03.