Tractor Supply Co Rant

Grey

Member
Just called the local tractor supply store in
Asheboro NC to see if they had a 15-25 gallon spot
sprayer in stock to go on my 4 wheeler to spray
herbicide around the barn with. Young lady said no
the sold the last one yesterday. I asked when will
you be getting more in stock? Her reply was " since
it's the end of the season, we won't have any more
till next spring". My reply was, " it's the end of July,
not winter!!!" Here in NC we still have two and a half
good months of warm weather. I asked for manager
and he admitted that was true. Said he has no
control over stock ordering. It's all done by
computer from home office and he is not even
allowed to special order one. It was then that I
remembered why I don't shop at Tractor Supply.
 
Tractor Supply leaves a lot to be desired on ther inventory. They seem to have a lot of stores. I guess you can burn a lot of gas going from store to store to find what you need.
 
I went into one last August for baler twine it was all put up until next year.I email the home office got a call from the manager he said something about baling season being over.
 
Just talked with the folks at Southern States Coop two blocks down the road. They have plenty in stock of several different models to choose from. Should have started there first anyway.
 
You should try buying ice fishing gear at a national chain like Dick's Sporting Goods.

Stocking decisions are apparently made somewhere in the south where there's no ice.
 
(quoted from post at 11:24:43 07/31/15) Tractor Supply leaves a lot to be desired on ther inventory. They seem to have a lot of stores. I guess you can burn a lot of gas going from store to store to find what you need.

That's true for a lot of things, but it is real simple to check the store inventory online before you leave your house, and if the store you were going to doesn't have it the system will check the surrounding area stores. You can also just order the thing and have it shipped right to you. I seldom carry much out of a store anymore - I let FedEx or UPS drive it to me.
 
Many stores let you shop and check inventory levels online. Buy online and then drive to the store when the item is in stock.
 
I was in one near me last week and they had already pulled all the yard care stuff inside the store and were switching to woodstoves, I told the manager it was the middle of July, people wouldn't hopefully be needing then until October. She just told me thats how home office wants it.

Ross
 
Lot of the chain/box stores are like that. I laugh about Wal Mart in particular. I like in the county with the most lakes in MN. Yet every year Wal Mart force feeds the local store swimming pools. Then every fall they clearance most of them out because who needs to buy a pool when the lake is 10 minutes away? Where I live I can be at at least 5 different lakes with good beaches in less than 10 minutes. West Battle, East Battle, Clitheral, Stewart and Otter Tail Lakes. But Wal Mart forces stores to take those pools. Other ones like TSC have their stocking dictated too. Gotta remember. They pay by the square foot for those stores. Either in leases or taxes. Anything that cannot be displayed has to be stored. That storage space cost money.

Rick
 
They feel they have to chase the big boys in retail so that is what they do. In their defense they probably would find it harder to get stock shareholder money if their ambitions were less. It would be nice if somebody came along that had capital to run a true farm supply store chain.
 
(quoted from post at 09:13:56 07/31/15) They feel they have to chase the big boys in retail so that is what they do. In their defense they probably would find it harder to get stock shareholder money if their ambitions were less. It would be nice if somebody came along that had capital to run a true farm supply store chain.


Problem there is that there just are not enough farmers anymore.

Rick
 
I went there back in May. Very expansive and wide selection. There are two TSC's nearby and that can't be feeling too good about their prospects. Rather than worrying about stocking every last size of bib overall they should think about having more to offer in terms of ag products. Yeah, the demand is not there for plowshares like it used to be but get in on bale wrap plastic and silage bag plastic among other products.
 
They aren't my first stop, but they did have the tire tube I needed when the other stores did not, just yesterday.
 
Most stores are like that. Around here they quit selling winter clothing by the end of January and February can be the coldest month. Kind of goes with stocking Halloween stuff right after labor day and Christmas stuff in early October.
 
i would go to the company website and send them an email explaining the problem. most companies can be very accomodating when a problem arises. corporate may not be aware of a problem at a local location. if enough people give feedback, sooner or later they will listen. heres a link to their customer support.
poke here
 
yea my Levi shorts were getting in bad shape so i went to FARM & FLEET looking for something else thought i would take a look see. Shorts were on end of season sale in the middle of JULY.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME? We still have August and early part of September which could be hot.
 
My experience with TSC if you are looking for farm related merchandise it's either out of stock or they don't carry it. Now if you need something horse related it's stacked to the ceiling. Need to change their name to Horsey Supply company.
 
There are lots of farmers just not proper farmers like some of us on this forum. if you got 2.5
acres a glorified lawn tractor, a horse and get all your inputs from a tsc type store or delivered by a hay salesman you ain't important and a farmer like some think they are !!!!!!!!!!!.
Regards Robert
 
I hate to be a negative Nancy but those complaint lines don't do much good. Yeah, they will talk nice to you and if there is money in the customer goodwill account when you call they will give you a 50 dollar gift certificate usable only at their store. But as far as stocking shorts in October and snow shovels in April I would not count on it. I see a lot of turnover at TSC when I walk in so I would guess the employees get the human shield treatment by the employer. I saw working at CT years ago that people can hold you personally responsible for management decisions that the store employee has no control over. If you think you have too many friends work at one of these places and most likely you will lose a few before you quit.
 
Stores here in the desert are putting out winter clothing now and marking down summer clothing. Anyone who lives here knows that it is not going to cool off much until early November, but nobody at the home office of the stores knows that.
 
The TSC's are gone in my area. Instead we have a smaller local chain called Bomgaars headquartered in Sioux City. They do have a lot of clothing and house paint and other urban supplies along with horse stuff, but as far as I know they carry seasonal things like sprayer and twine year round. They might not have a large supply in the off season but you likely won't be left empty handed. They have two of their larger stores in my area and I am making my judgment on what I see in mainly these two stores.
 
I didn't read all the responses. Had a similar experience at Tractor Supply regarding something on sale. They were out and wouldn't bring in any more. Employee basically said I was out of luck.

I went online and ordered it off their website, it was delivered to the store in 2 days and was at the sale price.
 
This problem has been going on for decades if not centuries. Some idiot in a suit a thousand or more miles away is making decisions about what stores will carry and when. They don't seem to know that you might actually need a winter coat in late January. They also don't seem to know that you might run out of agricultural supplies in the middle of the season. It would be nice if we all could anticipate all of our needs by the beginning of a given season, and buy everything that we will need for that season, but then there are other things.....
Like suppose I don't have enough available cash to stock up while it is on the shelves....
Suppose I don't have room to store a lot of extra supplies...
Suppose my winter coat is somehow damaged beyond use in the first week of February.
I have hopes since I was a young adult that the retailers would wise up and quit rushing every season. My complaints fall upon deaf ears.
Presumably, if enough people squawk about it, they might begin to listen - especially if we exercise our most powerful tool - the power of the wallet!!
 
(quoted from post at 10:04:04 07/31/15)
(quoted from post at 11:24:43 07/31/15) Tractor Supply leaves a lot to be desired on ther inventory. They seem to have a lot of stores. I guess you can burn a lot of gas going from store to store to find what you need.

............ You can also just order the thing and have it shipped right to you. I seldom carry much out of a store anymore - I let FedEx or UPS drive it to me.

Yep - that's what I started doing, too. I also check store inventories online before I start driving to someplace that 'should have it' but don't (drives my wife crazy with stuff that she regularly buys BUT she won't look it up online first :roll: )
 
Yes and the big department store my wife works in the AC and heat are controlled from corporate headquarters. So does not matter what the weather is here, it still runs "their program". Sometimes its crazy hot sometimes way too cool. Customers complain, the employees complain seems to have little affect. Oh well, it is what it is. gobble
 
Each time I buy something I will fill out the survey. Good or Bad. Let them know. I will even till them your story in my next online chat with them. So your Rant to us MIGHT do some good this time. I complained about Filters. But how many tractor filters will they sell at this store. If one filter fits several tractors stock it. I agree they should stock a spray tank or at least be able to order what they have stocked. If you find one someplace else TELL THEM.
 
I went in to buy a tractor seat for a JD 4020 At TSC. They sell one that's closer to the original than the one JD sells. A week ago I bought one and there were probably 10 more on the shelf. Today they were all gone. The girl said they were all sent back to the company for restocking. She never could explain what that meant or if they were going to get more.
 

It's becoming the norm.
I have got the same response from Rural King and Big R stores here in IL.
and also TSC. here too.
Probably a corporate thing.
Tom
 
If you think their operating decisions should be made by the local staff...

.....then you haven't had much exposure to the local staff.

I have visited and tried to just simply checkout, find a part, order something, in 4 different TSC stores
and I would not let that staff make decisions for me.

Considering the comments I see on here about TSC, Walmart and Parts Stores, maybe the American workforce

could use some training, work rules and discipline.
 
If I'm going to need a piece of equipment I can't see waiting until the last minute to go out and buy it.Whats the saying?"Failure to plan on your part doesn't constitute an emergency on our part". Tractor Supply ain't perfect for sure but they beat everyone else on dog food around here,have a pretty decent supply of bolts at a very good price and if you pop a hydraulic hose on a Saturday afternoon and will need it on Sunday where else are you going to get it?
Try Agi Supply they have lots of sprayers.
 
Other than one employee I can't complain about the local TSC stores in terms of personnel. Corporate has a "set" in terms of merchandising that they apply to nearly all locations. They want fast turnover in product to get the investment in shovels or whatever back ASAP plus the return in profit. Their goal is not to be a complete farm store as that would mean buying products that would take several months or a year to get the money back out of the original order quantity. I worked for Central Tractor back in the 1990's and that operation was turning that way by the mid-1990's. You can't go up against Walmart in a product line and buy from the same vendor a fraction of the volume because your cost will never be as low as Wally and you will only sell to people who will not frequent Wally.
I saw when I was in TSC this morning that Cub Cadet looked like it was being thinned out and had noticed Runnings having CC.
 
The feed store where I do part time work. Has a little bit of everything year round. If they don't have it. They can have it in a couple of days. If you need it in a hurry and it is not to far away. I will go pick it up.
 
I rarely go to our local one. Usually leave shaking my head. Just this week I needed parts for my king kutter brush hog. ( big rock ruined my day) I did my research online before checking with them. Rural king was $160 shipped to my house. They were $270. Just said no thanks.

Have a family farm and home a town away. Seems to be a much better store.
 
maybe they should change the name to dog food supply then. I didn't have to have the sprayer today and it wasn't a failure of any kind on my part. The point of my post wasn't that it wasn't in stock but that its july and they weren't getting any more before next spring and they weren't allowed to place special orders. I did however buy what I needed today at the Co-op just down the street. Maybe TSC has some reading and comprehension glasses for you though next time you buy dog chow.
 
I could go on and on about TSC, but I hate to type! Just saying I am Lucky where I live. I have 2 Independent farm stores within 10 miles from home. A truly great NAPA store with people that want to help you. I have 3 repair shops that will fix or rebuild most any car/truck or tractor at a reasonable cost. Almost forgot 2 tire stores that do cars, trucks, tractors almost anything with tires. Life is good here.
I used to wonder about people posting about " where can I get(?)whatever"? I just call Bob, Betty,Jeff, Kieth,Scotty, John, or Bill and order it,sometimes just drive in and get it. joe, luckey to live where I am at.
 
Why don't you go on the internet and order it yourself and have it shipped to the store - free freight , I believe
 
cant be oliver wentbroke years ago . and case hasnt used green paint on a tractor for probably a hundred years
 
Just try to buy a pair of boots in your size there!

-They only stock one pair in each size. About once a month they get another shipment, but only one pair in each size!

-Everything is micromanaged from the home office in Brentwood TN. Right down to the lousy music they play-it comes in on sattelite raido from guess where?

-They even have computers/watchers who will even call the manager to ask why the back door has been open so long. (Wish I had that job.)

-Like the other guys said: The only thing I never saw them run out of was dog food. If you have any other kind of animal, its by chance.

-The last week I worked there I worked nine concecutive 8 hour days. And still got no overtime.
 
t.r.k.-"-The last week I worked there I worked nine concecutive 8 hour days. And still got no overtime."

Sorry but, I gotta call BS on that statement. It is against Federal Labor Law to work over 40 hours per week and not get 1.5 overtime pay.

Please, explain how this happened...?
 
Those places you mentioned hire the cheapest help they can find. I talked to a guy in one of our local farm stores, and he mentioned that he was clocking out in a few minutes. He seemed nervous, and he said he only had 5 minutes to get from this place to his second job. I mentioned that it must be hard on his home life, and he said yeah, wife works two jobs too, so they sometimes only see each other on the highway. I don't know who's raising the kids (if there are any).
 
I don't know what he did there but if he was considered Management in any way he was probably exempt from those rules. IT workers even if not management are also generally exempt. Probably other people too--accountants perhaps? They might still be paid hourly but they are not paid overtime.
 
I guess I'll buck the trend here and report some good service I got at TSC a couple of years ago. I was needing some Cat 0 hitch pins with 7/8" thread to adapt a small Cat 1 implement for use with my Power King garden tractor. I saw what I needed on the manufacturer's website but although TSC carried that brand they didn't stock that particular odd-ball part in any of their stores. With really no questions asked they offered to special order them for me, had them in about a week, and the price was about what similar pins on the shelf were.
 
Walmart found a way around it.
Ever notice the old store sitting empty for years
and years when they build a new one?
They put a ridiculous asking price on it, turn down
any reasonable offer, then write it off as
unsellable property, and use it for storage for the
new store.
 
(quoted from post at 20:44:14 07/31/15) t.r.k.-"-The last week I worked there I worked nine concecutive 8 hour days. And still got no overtime."

Sorry but, I gotta call BS on that statement. It is against Federal Labor Law to work over 40 hours per week and not get 1.5 overtime pay.

Please, explain how this happened...?

Not BS, its simple and happens all the time. His first 5 days of work could have been in a calendar week (the last 5 days of the companys calandar week), then a new calendar week starts where he could have worked the second 4 days. No overtime pay required. Happens all the time...
 
Rich_WI- Federal labor laws from the Department of Labor..."The Act applies on a workweek
basis. An employee's workweek is a fixed and regularly recurring period of 168 hours — seven
consecutive 24-hour periods. It need not coincide with the calendar week, but may begin on any
day and at any hour of the day."


Full statement below:
"The federal overtime provisions are contained in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Unless
exempt, employees covered by the Act must receive overtime pay for hours worked over 40 in a
workweek at a rate not less than time and one-half their regular rates of pay. There is no
limit in the Act on the number of hours employees aged 16 and older may work in any workweek.
The Act does not require overtime pay for work on Saturdays, Sundays, holidays, or regular days
of rest, unless overtime is worked on such days.
The Act applies on a workweek basis. An employee's workweek is a fixed and regularly recurring
period of 168 hours — seven consecutive 24-hour periods. It need not coincide with the calendar
week, but may begin on any day and at any hour of the day. Different workweeks may be
established for different employees or groups of employees. Averaging of hours over two or more
weeks is not permitted. Normally, overtime pay earned in a particular workweek must be paid on
the regular pay day for the pay period in which the wages were earned.".
Poke here
 
Lamont in NC-

"When is overtime due?
For covered, nonexempt employees, the FLSA requires overtime pay at a rate of not less than one and one-half times an employee's regular rate of pay after 40 hours of work in a workweek. Some exceptions to the 40 hours per week standard apply under special circumstances to police officers and fire fighters employed by public agencies and to employees of hospitals and nursing homes."
Poke here
 
(quoted from post at 13:26:05 08/02/15) Rich_WI- Federal labor laws from the Department of Labor..."The Act applies on a workweek
basis. An employee's workweek is a fixed and regularly recurring period of 168 hours — seven
consecutive 24-hour periods. It need not coincide with the calendar week, but may begin on any
day and at any hour of the day."


Full statement below:
"The federal overtime provisions are contained in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Unless
exempt, employees covered by the Act must receive overtime pay for hours worked over 40 in a
workweek at a rate not less than time and one-half their regular rates of pay. There is no
limit in the Act on the number of hours employees aged 16 and older may work in any workweek.
The Act does not require overtime pay for work on Saturdays, Sundays, holidays, or regular days
of rest, unless overtime is worked on such days.
The Act applies on a workweek basis. An employee's workweek is a fixed and regularly recurring
period of 168 hours — seven consecutive 24-hour periods. It need not coincide with the calendar
week, but may begin on any day and at any hour of the day. Different workweeks may be
established for different employees or groups of employees. Averaging of hours over two or more
weeks is not permitted. Normally, overtime pay earned in a particular workweek must be paid on
the regular pay day for the pay period in which the wages were earned.".
Poke here

Exactly. Which is why he was not BSing and what happened was perfectally legal. It happens all the time.
 
(quoted from post at 02:45:44 08/01/15) Those places you mentioned hire the cheapest help they can find. I talked to a guy in one of our local farm stores, and he mentioned that he was clocking out in a few minutes. He seemed nervous, and he said he only had 5 minutes to get from this place to his second job. I mentioned that it must be hard on his home life, and he said yeah, wife works two jobs too, so they sometimes only see each other on the highway. I don't know who's raising the kids (if there are any).

Way of the world now, I know who to blame but won't make this political. Most of the gals (other than the high school kids) that wait tables at our local pizza place that we frequent (every Friday!) also work one or two other jobs. A few of them are in school (college) and do find a full time job once they graduate, but even some of those stay on, working weekends for the extra money, and some just like the place.

Back on topic, I'm mostly happy with TSC, now that they built a new and bigger one on the other side of town. They stock more farm/rural related stuff than the one between this small city and the big city. I've just lowered my expectations as to what they have and go from there. There is a new Rural King within a half hour drive, but only been there once just to check it out. Did buy some ammo and some little things.
 
They never maintain their stock. Of the few items worth even entering the front door for, they're often out of things you knew they had like cotter pins, entire drawers full of split washers or bolts, battery cables, etc, batteries. Oh but they never run out of cat toys.
 
TSC covers most of my needs most of the time. Nothing can do everything all of the time. I've got it pretty much nailed down for what I can rely on them for, and know generally what I need to look elsewhere for. They are what they are, not much I or anyone else can do about it.
 

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