Feed store rant!

[lupinfarm]

AND WHY ARE FEED STORES NOT OPEN ON SUNDAYS AND HOLIDAYS. Just because it's a sunday or holiday doesn't mean the world just STOPS.

Perhaps because the people who work there/own them might like a day off to go to church?

Many of the farmers go to church and still work, We don't go to church and we aren't religious but just because church is at 11am doesn't stop a store opening for a few hours. I know almont every farmer and horse owner around here would certainly come and shop if they were open from even 2-5 on a Sunday, or shock, maybe if they were open on a weekday later than 4pm, that I don't get... Many people work day jobs, even farmers, so how can they get to the feed store if it closes at 4pm every day?

 

[cmjust0]

I know this is an old thread and all, but I have to chime in..

I struggled to buy several cattle panels at TSC one day, though the clerk didn't know her butt from a hole in the ground. I had to walk her through it..."Pick up that binder. Yeah, that binder.. Now, flip to the page that says.........."

Anyway, after all that, I went to the "side lot" or whatever they call it and...no panels. The guy said they were a "Manager's Special" the week before, and they'd sold out.

I asked when more were coming...no clue.

I asked why a manager would discount something as popular as cattle panels when they had no way of knowing when they were going to get their next shipment....again, no idea, but this time mixed with a sort of lethargic apathy.

I said "Ya know...this would be a really good place for a farm store."

Crickets chirped...a tumbleweed rolled between us...crickets chirped some more...

He kinda cocked his head to the side and furrowed his eyebrows a little, not unlike a dog when it hears another dog bark on television.

Nevermind...back inside I go, to get a refund. The line, of course, is backed up to the point that it's snaking out into the cowgirl bling section, AKA "western wear."

When I finally get to the register and explain the situation to the clerk, she goes OOOOOH that's right....oops....yeah, they're out of those. Well, gee, glad you remembered that or it could have been a real PITA.....oh....wait..

She looks at me and asks, with a creepily odd sincerity, "Are you mad?" I said "Uhhh, well, at this point, I'm not really even surprised."

She smiled an oddly sincere smile that appeared to indicate something like misplaced relief that I wasn't angry. Daddy issues, I suppose.

When all was said and done, I went out to the parking lot, had what I'm pretty sure was a mild but strangely satisfying stroke, then drove away.

The end.

 

[lupinfarm]

HAH CM, I loved that...


Sigh, my TSC is useless, and like yours you often go out to the side lot to find that what you have just bought is out of stock.

The biggest thing that bothers me is that no one knows what the hell they are talking about, and yet, they won't hire me? Someone who has years of experience? ...Another thing, they LIE to me all the time!! I went into buy those hinges for the tubular steel farm gates (you know, the ones you get with the gate?) well, they sell them seperately too (at least they did?), I bought 2 around January and went in to buy 2 more today... "Sorry we don't carry those, try Home Depot"

WHAT? And anyway, Home Depot carries something similar for chainlink, but it attaches at one side to the round pole of the chain link and I was specifically looking for the kind that attaches to the hinge pegs for farm gates....

 

[Aped]

I absolutely hate TSC! But I still go there for their chicken food because it's cheaper than the other feed store and easier to get to. But they have nothing in the way of goats. They actually have no complete line of stuff for any one animal as far as I can tell. I tried to buy a kennel from them once and I asked if I could have it delivered and they said they don't deliver although there is a guy that does do deliveries for a us for a fee but he isn't here. So they lost business for that. And half the time I go in there they aren't even stocked so I have to come back another day. I never knew you could run a store with a whole lot of nothing.

 

[cmjust0]

Ya know how we all complain about the other feed and farm stores keeping short hours and being closed on weekends?

Yeah, well.. In my not-so-humble opinion, that's the only reason why such an abomination as Tractor Supply Company even exists.

That's not to say the other feed and farm stores are necessarily better (though they usually are by virtue of the simple fact that they could hardly be worse), it's just that when you know you need to pick up t-post insulators on your way home from work at 5:30pm so you can get a little further on your fence project....TSC is pretty much your only option.

I've seriously considered trying to get a few other goat people together to open a bricks-n-mortar goat store in my town. Match TSC on hours, but carry only goat stuff....even off label goat stuff...and only hire people who actually own goats. Kentucky is the second most goat-populous state in the nation (I think, anyway...there are LOTS of goats either way), so I'm almost certain it would do OK..

Ahhhh, pipe dreams...

 

[noobiechickenlady]

Gotta play the devil's advocate here. Of course, I'm talking about a small town, locally owned, neighbor-run, family business thats been around since the 20s. Gotta be doing something right, huh?
Its on my way home from work, they stock locally grown grain products that are cheaper & fresher by far than the "other" stores, they have a good variety of products (goats, emu, alpaca, cow, horse) plus a miscellany of other stuff. Bagged compost, plants, you get the picture.
The absolute BEST part about their store? You can walk in, ask a question or six and leave without buying anything. If you need something ordered, its there and you are called within a week (usually less than that) They will TELL you if someone else has the same thing for cheaper than they can get it. They don't call me crazy for feeding whole grains to my chickens. They pass along messages from person to person (So and so is looking for a Dexter 3 in 1, would you give em a call?)
And when I walk in I get greeted by name. Since the second time I stepped foot in the store.
I avoid the "other" feed store at all costs now.

 

[Kooshie]

I think it would be better to order more when someone asks than to steal yours! Maybe it's just me but that seems kind of silly, taking your things to sell to someone else. Very rude.

 

[his1911]

TSC just like any other feed store really depends on its management staff. Our local store manager is a farmer ( well at least an actively involved farmers wife) so she has some idea what farmer's need or want. She is limited somewhat by corporate as to some things she can or can't carry but she does a pretty good job of keeping those things in stock ( sometimes she even wins against corporate) As an example she fought long and hard to get them to let her stock sulfur range blocks for cattle, they said there'd be no demand. She was allowed to stock a pallet ( I seen it come of the truck on a forklift and called her) when i walked in the front of the store there were already three other cowmen wanting to buy blocks, we all four wanted the same thing, AN ENTIRE pallet of sulfur blocks!!!

Some stores are good and worth doing business with, I reward those by shopping there, others don't deserve the help and I don't visit those!

 

[julieq]

I guess we're really fortunate as our local feed store is great. They messed up on delivering some compressed hay recently and actually admitted the fact that they messed up! They delivered the rest of the hay today and were just as kind as ever.

 

[Back to Nature]

I once asked if I could handle some of a farm supply company's chicks, because at the time I had land and was considering a couple. They said no. If they don't want me handling the animals, which were technically merchandise, then they're obviously hiding something.