LESCO

[CLM1]

ATTENTION! ALL! ATTENTION! ALL!<br>READ THE PESTICIDE FORUM!<br>TAKE ACTION TODAY!<br>MAKE PHONE CALLS!<br>BOYCOTT LESCO!<br>

[lawrence stone]

Get a life CLM1. <p>

[CLM1]

I have a life Mr. Stone and so does everyone else here. However, one of our biggest and &quot;best&quot; suppliers is slowly cutting our throats!<br>Think about it!<br>I'm not trying to be a smart @%$ or anything, but does this not bother anyone else here? If not, Why? Please explain.<br>Thanks.

[sue]

i have no idea what lesco is. but i do shop home depot does that help.

[fireball]

what pesticide forum are you referring to? Unless I see what you are referring to I'll have to agree with Larry.

[Evan528]

what do you have against lesco? they have great products at very reasonable prices! the guys there are a huge help and are very acomadating... so whats you problem?

[steveair]

In response to the fact that home depot now sells lesco mowers:<p>I have the september issue of landscape mgmt. sitting in front of me, and on the back cover is a lesco add. <p>The slogan goes <p>&quot;A good business relationship begins with quality products&quot;<p>then there is a picture of a lesco salesman standing at his desk and a contractor on the other side, and they are both reading a brochure together.<p>underneath that it says;<br>&quot;But a GREAT business relationship includes outstanding service, convenience and value!&quot;<p>I guess for the next add they'll run, they'll use the same sayings, but instead the picture will be this.<p>A picture of a 45 year old man, dressed in jean shorts, a hawaiian shirt, black socks pulled all the way up, with black penny loafers, holding a bent mower blade, waiting in a line of about 30 people trying to get to the service counter at home depot with a 17 year old high schooler behind the counter in a orange apron who has a dumb look on his face. <p>I could really care less what lesco does, but the whole thing is funny to me.<p><br>

[Evan528]

the home depot near you now sells commercial mowers? disaster!

[geogunn]

...meanwhile...when I was down at my local LESCO dealer this afternoon, there were whispers, and comical denials that there was anything going on. excuse me, I gotta go check out the 2x4's at home depot!<p>GEO!

[Cannonturf]

Well it does bother me a bit. As lawn care providers we are usally are called on because of the quality of chemicals we use.And usally able to get better chem's then most people. I believe if Lesco sells it's products at retail stores it takes something away from us. If i was a home owner and had hired a company to fert and they were putting down Scott's turf builder I would feel ripped off. Why would I be paying these guy's for something I can run to the hardware store and get myself.<br>People pay us for the higher quality.<br>That's my 2 cents

[GrassMaster]

Hello everybody:<p>It's a sad situation, but you will see more of this in the future.<p>Everybody wants to eliminate the middle man, they percieve that they will save money. No absolutely not, not in this day & time.<p>Greed has taken over & everybody wants a piece of the pie, just a crumb will be fine, just give me my piece.<p>In most cases when the middle man is cut out you just got a inch longer cut on your throat, that's a fact Jack!<p>Example one of the biggest & oldest lawn mower manufactures in the U.S has eliminated all of their distributors & gave very little notice, I know of one distributor that had millions of inventory, too bad he still got most of inventory. One day he will sell it.<p>It's all factory direct, nope prices didn't go down in fact a lot went up on the average of 20% on parts straight across the board. No more personalization, just a dealer number now.<p>The reason manufactures are going mass merchant is find an employee that knows anything, LOL they don't know shinola but the traffic flow is astronomical. <p>People freak out at all that cheap crap stacked up 20 feet high & they buy it any way because they were brainwashed that they are getting the very best price possible.<p>On a bad weekend the massmerchant can move more than the company were talking can in a month. With a lot less manpower & knowledge.<p>Why do a lot of people want apartment complexes, a lot more money & only one customer. Same with going mass merchant.<p>Lesco probably sold more at one time to Home Depot than they could sell themselves in 2 years. Will probably get how many more orders like that between now & end of year?<p>Wasting your time calling anybody & complaining.<p>Lesco & Home Depot are laughing all the way to the bank!<p>Very smart move for lesco, yes it hurts all of us but it's the new way of the future!<p>----------<br>GrassMaster - Home: www.lawnservicing.com<br>My Start Up Page www.lawnservicing.com/startup/<br>

[thelawnguy]

My understanding is that each Lesco service center is individually owned and operated. Some good ones, some bad ones. The one near me is staffed by three large logs of $#!t who only seem concerned with squeezing the most out of you, legally or not, so I now take my business elsewhere.<p>I knew it was the beginning of the end when they stopped including price lists with their catalog, and stopped marking prices on the accessories on the shelves. I now take my business elsewhere. Fortunately there is a Landscaper Supply a few miles from my home and they carry basically the same quality of chemicals and replacement parts at a fair price, none of this &quot;how much can you afford&quot; crap.<p>Bill

[fireball]

thelawnguy: each Lesco store is company owned. They have 226 stores nationwide and an equal amount of golf course trucks and salesman. All this information is in their annual report and they are traded on the NASDQ which is currently undervalued. The problem with Lesco stock is their inventories are out of whack to the rest of the NASDQ because they have to buy five years worth of crop in turfgrass seed. Bet you didn't know they are the worlds largest producer of turfgrass seed and sulfur coated fertilizer. Sorry that you had a bad experience with the three yo-yo's. Next time pick up the phone and call the CEO of Lesco(Bill Foley)they won't treat you like **** next time guareenteed. Again, all you guys have to do is get your Lesco representive to quote you prices, take those prices to Home Depot and get it 10% cheaper, what could possibly be better than that? You guys beat up Lesco and don't get upset with Scott's who started their own lawn care company last year. That is direct competition to you.

[Lazer]

Poor customer service and unknowledgeable sales personell seem to be quite prevelant at the service centers I'm familiar with.<p>Being the world's largest supplier, you'd think:<p>1.) They'd have a consistant price schedule. Everybody &quot;feels&quot; like their getting the shaft when they leave. People should &quot;feel&quot; like they've gotten a good deal. Perhaps that might partially explain their stock being down 30% in the past 3 years while the rest of the businessworld has scyrocketed. <p>2.) They wouldn't have their pre-emergent fertilizer backordered.<p>3.) Why don't they service the equipment they sell? Even Sears services their lawnmowers.