MADE IN AMERICA?

Geo-TH,In

Well-known Member
I think it about time we concentrate on things that are MADE IN AMERICA even if it means assembled in America.

Putting that aside and putting aside you may totally dislike John Menard. I find the man to be an American success story. The richest man in Wisconsin $9.1 billion. A farm boy, business degree, started building pole barns before getting into retail business. Menards is my favorite place to shop. I'm a Menard fan.

It's hard to find information on other businesses John Menard owns. I know he owns two in Terre Haute, one makes concrete products the other makes trusses. It's possible many in Terre Haute you wouldn't know they are owned by John Menard. They are located a mile north of the Menard store.

What I would like to find is how many separate enterprises are linked to John Menard. I think America needs more people like John that puts Americans to work. I know many of the people that work at the Menard store in Terre Haute have been there for years. That says something to me to see the same faces year after year.

So how many businesses in your area does John Menard own? I guessing when he has a Made in America sale, good chance many of those products are from his other businesses.

Please, this post isn't about if you hate the store, this is about Made in
America.
geo
John Menard
 
I doubt Menard is building anything in the US which he could otherwise import. Trusses and concrete products are simply too expensive to ship for them to hauled any great distance, let alone imported from Asia. So he's competing not with global manufacturers, but rather with US regional manufacturers.

I occasionally shop at Menards, and the-store brand stuff all seems to be imported. Which makes perfect sense, since he's competing with the imported store-brand products at Lowes and HD.
 
Well there is a Menard's in Lansing and Flint. I bought a prybar from them in WI one time and have not been back since. It bent the first time I used it. I don't think much of the things in most of those box stores is made in America. Let alone even the smaller local places have trouble with getting American made products.
Not trying to bash them just not in the local town and I don't travel the 20-30 miles to get things if I don't have to. I will travel for bigger ticket items like equipment.
 
My nearest Menards store is an hour away from me, so I don't get there often. However, I will buy a couple of things when I'm in the area. It's the only store where I'll participate in a mail-in rebate, because they are always fast and prompt.
Whenever, there is a Menards post, it's always interesting to see the bashers come out complaining about how much stuff in the store is imported, even though they do have their "Made in America" sales fliers a couple of times a year. If everything they had in the store would be truly American-made, I guess the same bashers would be complaining that the prices in Menards are higher than what WalMart charges and that they don't have a very good selection.
 
Agreed, Gambles.

Any retailer that stocks only US made items will be out of business within weeks.

Unfortunate, but not the fault of retailers.

Dean
 
I like Menards displays for plumbing,electric,paint,etc. better than the other two mentioned,I can never seem to find things without help in Lowes or HD. Our other stores don't have a drive in lumberyard like Menards and that makes it a pain to load a lot of items also,all in all I think they do a good job and will spend my money there.
 
I don't know friend George. I went to Menards asked for a cold water heater. Was told we do not sell anything but hot water heaters. I says I have no need to heat water already considered hot. Sales fellow and I had a good laugh. I then bought from local hardware for ten dollars more. I do agree with you old friend , if local store is too high or only foreign manufacture then its also Menards.
 
MarkB,
Everyone is missing my MADE IN AMERICA point. No one has listed other business John M owns. Guess if he ran for press, those business would be disclosed. I can't find anything on his other investments. I don't care how many imported items he sell, really want to know how many people he employes in other companies.
geo
 
The big problem with made in America. Is most Americans don't want it. Local hardware store opened a made in America section. He shut it down in six months. Very few sales and he got tired of dusting things off.
 
Hes had a few times at bat with the law. Is that your idea of an American success ignore the law and blackmail politicians? Friends of mine have land near his he's ok but its his way only
 
I went to county home page, used beacon, googled Menards Inc. Below is Menards 60 acre concrete/truss factory in Terre Haute. These are jobs we didn't have before Menards inc.

You you please go to your county home page and see is there is anything listed under Menards Inc.
Menards Inc
 
Kinda odd don't you think, that here in America people will try to infringe on free speech with preemptive comments meant to silence views that may oppose what they want to here?

Well sorry, I don't fall for that nonsense!

My experiences in Menards has been anything from Great to down right poor. I have in the last 6 months been in the Alexandria, St Cloud MN and Morehead MN stores. The good: Big selection, clean and well lighted. The bad: Staff may as well work at Autozone for what they know about the department they work in or the products they sell. They also don't know the store. They can't tell you where items can be found that are in their department and don't even ask were something is that isn't in their department. I've even had department managers who don't know very much. That is the fault of the Menards failing to spend some time training the workers. Also on certain items compared to other suppliers the quality is shoddy for almost exactly the same price as the better quality item in a competitors store. I only shop there when Menards is more convenient.

To me Menards is the Wal Mart in that type store. And I seldom go into a Wal Mart.

Rick
 
I live near where his headquarters is in Eau Claire WI. I have close friends that work for him in his IS department. Here in Eau Claire there is the Midwest Division, there is a counter top division, I believe he does his own packaging of fertilizer, like you said the truss plant and the concrete block plant, a door division, a treated wood plant to name a few. The quality has improved on many items over the years. Back in the mid 70's I purchased some lumber for a truck rack. I was short one piece and went to the local lumber yard. To this day I can tell you the piece that was purchased at the local yard. It was always a joke to buy lumber at Menards as when you cut the banding you had to watch out so the lumber did not slap you in the face. Today the quality of the products have improved by the most part. Some contractors buy large amounts of products at Menards and some will not buy anything. One problem I find is some of the contractors want to get their contractor discounts from the local lumber yards and will tell you the produce is superior to Menards. I have seen first hand that often the product is the very same. As for Lowe's and Home Depot, I will go to Menards any day.
 
We must have a little better than average crew at Bemidji, but I have noticed a lot of turnover, new employees, but that's the way it is when
the economy is improving, skilled employees are moving on to better jobs. As for mr. menard, he is a terrible person, treats the employees
badly and has been caught in several environmental violations himself. I remember reading when he first was getting started he got caught
hauling home treated lumber scraps and burning them, just because he didn't want to pay for proper disposal. We do shop a menards some
because it's handy, but it's no better than walmart, an example of corporate greed!
 
The scraps were treated lumber he even tried to bag them and take them home and burn them. He threatened to move out of Wisconsin if he didn't get what he wanted.
 
I worked for a local lumber yard and Lowes was having a sale on 7/16 osb. It was cheaper than we could buy from the wholesalers. I took company truck and company credit card to Lowes and bought 8 units(that was all they would sell me) The same wholesalers truck was there and they took it off his truck and loaded it on mine. Asked the wholesaler why they were getting so much better price and he said they were paying same as we would have. $2 loss per sheet x576 sheets. So I know product is the same

Steven
 
I would support any business that sold American made products...as a matter of fact,i would support that store often. Even if I had to pay more for my items. I do hope (for all of us)that American made products....are on the way back,I'm looking forward to it!
 
I agree. I always went to that section. Always had someone say these are cheaper over here. I would always say these over here last longer.
 
Back in the '70's when Sam Walton was still alive, he used to take tours of the facilities that supplied for Walmart. When my brother could still see, he worked at one of them in Middlebury, IN...CTS that later became Signature Metals, and who knows now. They used to and maybe still make the steel shelves used in stores for at least Walmart. My brother used to tell me back then, "Sam Walton came in today to take a tour" on multiple occasions. Back then, Sam Walton used to lend money to upstarts to "Make In America", not "Proudly Assemble In America" or just import Freight to some American Harbor from China. I remember those days. Sam Walton actually used to loan money to upstarts to "Make In America" to compete with the growing imports that also sold in his stores. But then, Sam died, his five or six kids inherited it split evenly and now about...100% imported Freight through some American Harbor from China.

I'm getting old and remember when it was once "Made In America".

Mark
 
Kudos to Mr Menard.
But his stores still suck.
I rarely go to Menards. Less than 10% of the time. I go to Home Depot almost every day for work.
I've been working on the job I'm at for a month now. I have two batches of reciepts from this job - up to about $3500 now. Most from Home Depot,, maybe 25% from other specialty vendors. There is one reciept from Menards in there for $35.
I hate Menards and will drive 5 miles to a Home Depot even if Menards is a block away.
 
I have a Menards, a Home Depot and a Lowe's within six miles of me so have the luxury of picking and choosing. I go to Menards pretty much every time. The Home Depot here looks almost deserted compared with the traffic that Menards attracts. Menards lumber quality has greatly improved since HD and Lowe's came to town. One thing that maybe makes my Menards a good store is the manager, who has been at the store at least since the early 1980s. Also, I shop there enough to know many of the employees by name, so I know whom to call on when I need help with something. Many of these employees have been at the store for 15 or 20 years or longer. And another thing I appreciate about my local Menards (again, maybe because of a decent manager): Many old-timers, retired types of employees working throughout the store. I'll take those folks over a high-school sophomore to help me any day of the week. (But I do hate Menards' 11% sales that show up every other week. Those sales are pretty useless compared with the ads the store had every week up until a year or so ago.)
 
Menard has a massive production facility just North and slightly East of the Ohio Turn Pike at the Montpelier/ Bryan Ohio exit. They build trusses and make cement products there as well as many other things. My one Grandson worked there for a while in the cement products part. I am not sure what all they make along with a distributing facility. Other support businesses to Menards have located next to it also. You can see roofs from the Turn Pike for over a mile. Google earth may give you a peek at the size. I have never looked. I might now though.
 
I found it on google earth. I didn't see the support businesses that I was told were built around it though. Holliday City is where it is located.
 
[quote="Geo-TH,In".



I think America needs more people like John that puts Americans to work.

Geo. Do you not think Walmart and others do not put Americans to work. Look at all the Walmart trucks on the road. All the stores that hire people. People who build new stores. People who build the trucks, service the trucks.

So is John doing more for America than a lot of others? No.

I know your concern was Made in America, but look at what you said, Puts Americans to work.

Don't confuse one with the other.
 
Ain't no Menards store here, Never heard of them, I am in N.E. Texas. We do have Lowes and Home Depot, but I hardly ever go there. We have a great old timey hardware store and two good mom and pop local lumber yards nearby. I try to support the locals because they also support me.
 
Much of the stuff I find in Menard's say made in China on it. Plus the rebates there are only in store rebates so no good unless you go back there. Ya I stop in there store once in a blue moon but it is also around 25 miles from me and hard to get to to boot. But then again ever since they redid Hwy 54 in Osage Beach MO it has been a pain to get any place.
 
Our wonderful congressional people with their actions and trade deals that caused businesses to move off shore or go out of business also was able to blame company greed to be the cause. I see it has worked and is still working. In most cases the offshore products in these stores not only get here tax free they also come in with you the tax payer paying the freight or most of it. I lost wheel sales to China where my customer could buy wheels and have them in house at my material costs. China was buying the plastic material from the USA and selling them back with freight at my material cost. It takes more than cheap labor for this to happen. I went from three shifts to one and now only make the low volume special wheels at 50 to 100 wheels on an order rather than several thousand.
 
DickL,
Thanks for looking and finding Menards Inc employes more than just the people in their stores.

It too bad my post turned into a fit storm Rant on the items sold that are not made in US instead of focusing on what is.

So thanks again, you are one of the few who did a little digging into Menards Inc.

I've know a person who for the past 17 years has worked at Menards. I talked to her today and asked how many other business like the block and truss factory does John have his fingers in. She started rattling off many things sold at the store he is connected with. She also told me that every year the employees get a free plane ride to Wisconsin for a 2 day seminar, courtesy of John M. She said he spends $2M a year on seminars, has his won plane. Even though he is officially retired, he still micromanages the business. His brother conducts part of the seminar telling how the business began in his father's barn, making pole barns and selling lumber and nails.

Putting all the petty rants aside. I think John Menard is like Sam Walton, self-made, highly motivated and personally involved in business.

Please no more ranting, do a little research and find what pockets John M has his hands in.
thank you
geo.
 
If you ever were a contractor working for Menards you wouldn't be bragging them up. Rarely did a contractor do more than two jobs for them. Menard's construction department referred to new contractors as "new meat meant to be used and abused".
I will never step foot in a Menards.
 
Bill, my boy bought first house in Plainfield. I gave him a water alarm which he put near cold water heater. A year or so later he calls. Cold water on floor. I drive over. Lower element, leaking. We replaced element, went to lunch. Floor was wet again. That's when I discovered water leaking from relief valve, anode , upper element, bottom of tank all had small leaks. Son already had picked out replacedcold water warmer. Installed it and took the rusted out Richman warmer home. Next day took it apart and couldn't believe what a rusted out mess it was. NEVER seen anything that bad, ever. On the side of tank was an 800#. I called richmand. They said it was purchased at Menards 9 years ago and it has a 12 year warranty. Just return it to store in Terre Haute, they will give you another one. I explain it belonged to my boy but he didn't buy it. Richmand didn't care, just have store manager call, pick up a free new one. Manager asked if a blue one is ok. Don't make gray ones anymore.

True story. Now I have a new 50 gallon cold water warmer in my garage. Boy will never need it. His new house has a gas heater.
George
 
I can not tell you how many American companies he promotes but I can tell you most of the wood/construction products he has shares/holding in. To name a few are trusses, cement blocks, counter tops, treated lumber, furniture, doors, veneered/furniture grade plywoods and particle boards. I am sure there are more but this is all I can think of right now, plus he is always adding/buying out new businesses.
 
I've bought made in USA (Armstrong?) flooring products from our two nearest Menard's stores - one is about 40 miles away, and the other about 60. They were the only "local" seller at that time that stocked made in USA material. The other places, including the local owned stores, stocked made in China material.

One thing that I've learned - before you leave home, do a search on the internet for the item that you're looking for. Invariably I'll get to the Menard's store and the sales help will say that they only have the material that's on display. I'll tell them that their website sez they have an ample supply - they'll look surprised, check their computer, and then go get whatever I'm looking for.

No complaints about Menard's, other than they are too far away.
 

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