It's been a year of failure. No momentum, just a downward slide. In a desperate attempt to "save" a company that didn't need saving he has confused our brand with consumers. We are not the same retailer as Home Depot. The majority of our customers come to us for reasons different from them. Are contractors important? Hell yes, but our customer base has consistently been the lady next door who every year buys annuals to plant in her yard, the couple getting their first home excited to fix it up, the old man wanting a new tractor to mow his lawn, the g– couple excited to redo their kitchen. These people are now being turned off by the junky look of our stores, the discount store feel to our current merchandising and signage and the upcoming inefficiencies of closing down the pickup desk. The man either won't grasp this or is unwilling to. Every quarter has been disappointing and with every quarter comes a new excuse. He is not capable of leading a huge retailer. Patience from above and Wall Street has to be wearing thin.
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Stock is at 99 and dropping. Marvin will fail. He has a track record of it everywhere he goes.
Your basic premise is flawed; you are assuming that “the powers that be” are as fed up with Marvin as Lowe’s associates are. In reality “the powers that be” are friends of Marvin’s, millionaires that play in a different social circle that us common folk. They are the kings and queens and as long as Marvin is making money for them we have more Marvin. Once he fails to make them money, he is out the door.
Make sure you are doing your job well; walk the customer to the merchandise, talk to customers about the Lowe’s credit card, product protection plans, PSE program, get some leads for the PSE associate, make sure your aisles are grand opening ready, do those code 3’s and code 50’s. Take time to bring in the carts without being asked. Help out in other departments. Do all those things that Lowe’s wants; not your fault sales are slumping, you’re doing what Lowe’s asked you to do.
I’d say he will be given at least 4-5 yrs to get it turned around. He inherited a mess from Niblock—a languishing stock price, an ever-widening gap with HD, failed acquisitions that were costing the company big time, and lackluster quarterly numbers on a pretty regular basis. He’s only been in place for 12 months. He is making decisions that adversely affect many of our individual employees but frankly that are necessary to make us more competitive. How many retailers have in-house janitors? I worked for the company for over 20 yrs and we survived without an FSA for many years. Same for assembly—I remember when we actually had third party assembly back in the late 90s and I will tell you where I was at it worked great. Some of you seem to think that Lowe’s is in business to provide jobs and employment—it is NOT! It is in business first and foremost to make money for shareholders—and those are not just Marvin and guys on Wall St. Many of them are current employees, former employees, and others. And I say this as a former employee that was forced to leave several years ago due to the dept mgr elimination. So I’m not just some rich guy with no feelings for others—but I do understand how business and corporations work and how they are under increasingly more pressure to compete in the on-demand economy that we all live and operate in now.
ive always kind of thought marvin was brought in to be a sacrificial lamb. they tapped him and all his disgraced former HD executives in hopes they held some HD secrets...once implemented theyd all be let go either with golden parachutes or having just made their excess millions. hes like the nba coach meant to get the team to the playoffs but no one actually believes he can win the championship. he will be let go like that nba coach that yearly puts together a just good enough team but one that makes the fan base all the more angry that the team underachieves. and like the fired coach...the fan base rejoices with a simple change in coaches and a promise of a better future....but no actual change occurs as its still the same exact underachieving team. marvin probably only exist at lowes to bring in those "secrets" and implement a bunch of change that everyone hates...he will then be let go and a new CEO brought in that wont actually undo any of this hell.....but none of the blame can be associated to the new regime. marvin has lost all respect and credibility.....all of his words are now assumed to be lies from store manager all the way down. employees have zero motivation to "evolve" with his ever changing ideas and mind. employees actively want to hurt lowes. hes the sacrificial lamb. one that is and will be paid very well. but his name will be c-ap. men use to want to couple wealth with the prestige of their name and the accomplishments that name is associated with...i guess hes fine with money alone.
Last quarter was first quarter in year Lowe’s beat Home Depot. How is that disappointing ???