Menard's & an email from my brother...

[snacker]

This whole Walker travesty has made me research the background of things a lot more. Here's an interesting story about Menards...

I was talking to someone who felt that since he has so few employee benefits that public employees shouldn't have any either. He works at Menards so I did a bit of research given that John Menard is the richest man in WI, and found this article: http://www.milwaukeemagazine.com/currentIssue/full_feature_story.asp?NewMessageID=13642

My favorites are the N. Dakota manager who was flying back & forth to a U. of Minn. hospital to see his very premature triplets. 2 of the babies died and he had to bury them. Since he only worked 35 to 40 hrs. instead of the 55 minimum per week during this time, John Menard halved his pay and fined him $2000 because he was 15 hrs short of minimum.

And the manager who built a home to accommodate his young wheelchair confined daughter. John Menard personally fired him because company policy prohibits managers from building a home - an employee theft prevention measure.

They don't hire anyone who previously worked in a union shop and there's a 60% pay cut for managers if a store becomes unionized.

I don't think I'll be "Saving Big Money" anymore.

[snacker]

1. Menards' contact info:

http://www.menards.com/main/contactUs.html

[AllyCat]

2. Yeah, we are totally done with Menards. Saw they were a top 5 contributor

to King Walker and we are done. Them and Home Despot. And Small Mart (although we were done with them a long time ago). And Kwik Trip. Don't forget them. Their fuel is garbage anyway.

[ewagner]

4. What's the story on Kwik Trip?

I didn't see them listed on open secrets???

[AllyCat]

5. Scott Walker watch has them listed.

It doesn't say they are top 5...think I saw that at a rally so sorry, I don't have that confirmed.

http://scottwalkerwatch.com/?p=985

[Bushfire]

9. Owner gave $1000.00 to Ron Johnson

and more than $3600.00 to Dan Kapanke (R) WI State Senator of the 32nd Disctrict. Didn't find any direct contributions to Walker on Open Secrets though, but it's pretty clear where he stands through these candidates. Search Don Zietlow under Open Secrets.

on edit: Kapanke is up for recall, hint, hint...

[HereSince1628]

3. Sort of gives promo "Save BIG MONEY"

an entirely new meaning, eh?

[nebenaube]

6. Their job applications are totally illegal as well. n/t

[cognoscere]

7. Thanks for that link. I have the magazine with the article in it...somewhere, but

it's good to have an e-version too. From my experience with Menard's over the years, I have made the following conclusions/observations: Menard is a French word that means, "Shitty building materials;" If you want quality building materials, go to Lowes or a small local lumberyard. (Yes, it will cost more, but you won't have to spend hours looking for straight lumber and more hours dealing with lumber that turned into "hockey sticks" after you got them out of the store); You most likely won't get any of those rebates they lure you into the store with; Food should not be purchased at Menard's. In his never ending obsession with acquiring even more money, Menard has branched out into groceries. Given his philosophy of selling rejects as quality product, his groceries have to be at least as bad as Woodman's (rotting produce, moldy deli items, and selling outdated product, even after pointing it out to a store manager); Menard's sells a lot of crap made in China, and the quality(or extreme lack thereof) is obvious.
Like most assholes/Republicans, Menard is a vile piece of shit whose passing will make the world a substantially better place to live for people who aren't assholes/Republicans. I suspect he once heard the phrase, "Caveat emptor" and figured that if people were stupid enough to buy crap, he could make a fortune selling it to them.

[elfin]

8. Stopped shopping there long ago due to this

A hideous enterprise.

[goddess40]

10. Home Depot sucks too

Does anyone know if Fleet Farm or Lowes is anywhere near ok to shop at?

[starroute]

11. Lowes has the usual big box limitations but they're better than some

I've gotten decent goods and semi-decent service there. (Semi-decent as in half the employees seem to know what they're talking about and the other half are clueless.)

But I've never bought any major appliances from them or had any major repair issues, so I couldn't say how they are on those aspects.

[TxVietVet]

12. Blain's Farm and Fleet, Lowe's and Mill's Fleet Farm are good stores.

I would never do business with Menard's, whom I like to call Maynard's (as in Maynard G. Krebs).

I prefer Blain's because it was closer to my home. A good brand of produces.

Where ever a Maynard's was located, a Home Depot and then a Lowe's located in the close vacinity. I hope that rat bastard hurts for money competing against Lowe's and Home Depot.