TSC ?

Yesterday while cleaning up limbs down from the storm, My steering wheel, on my NAA loader tractor took a crap. Stripped the splines on wheel,got it back into the shed, pulled wheel and shaft looks ok. The wheel is softer than the shaft for that reason. No big deal have a TSC 8 miles away,checked on computer to see if they had one and looked like they did. So I dug out the old truck ( might as well make it fun) and drove there. No wheels at all! Talked to 2 clerks and could order may get here 2 to 7 days.I declined and tryed another store, no good.
Came home and got on computer, ordered a wheel(TSC) for local free pickup. Time 1:23 PM , got email that I could pick up at Time 1:43
About 6 PM I called and girl told me it was there. Now that is FAST shipping!!!! joe

Guys put TSC down sometimes but I like them. If I find a part that seems to be sketchy no one makes me buy it, but most things are as good or better than you get anywhere else. And that really is darned fast service!

It means they found one some where locally that wasn't on the shelf for a customer to just grab. I like TSC but I think they are the worst for stocking shelves. If I need several things its a rare occasion to go there and come home with the whole list.

Might have already been in the store in a stock order not yet put up.

(quoted from post at 21:33:12 08/12/20) Might have already been in the store in a stock order not yet put up.

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Or corporate gets the order from you and corporate knows there is one in that store. Sends order on to local store to fill and contact customer.
They better have it or an explanation for why it is not there.

we have a saying around here...

tsc stocks up once a year whether they need to or not.

They are always out of what the season requires... so if its hay season,,, you can bet, they are out of hay supplies. but no worries, as they will restock all the hay stuff in december.

Good thing you didn't need two of anything, like a right and left glove.
I ordered 5 of one part that I use a lot. They normally stock one.
They said they'd call me when they came in. They never called.
About a month later, I went in and there were six on the pegboard.
I left one for the next customer in need.

I work at TSC part time. Not for the money but for the fun of it. Its a real eye opener to work there. Customer demands are very high. All I can say is go work in any retail store and you can see for yourself it is not a simple thing to keep everyone happy.
TS has to pay for the real estate by the square foot and they only stock enough to meet forecast demand . If they sell 5 items a month (based on average) then that is what they stock. Hay supplies run out quickly. everyone rushes in to buy twine and other items because they want it that day. Seasonal items are just that. They only stock more during the season. When the season if over they stock less and even none. You wont find twine there in December.
The items are gone because 20 or 25 people rushed in and bought it all.
Without going into a lengthy explanation I will just say this. Don't condemn until you have done the work and can do it better.
By the way they are always hiring. Starting pay 8.95 per hour.
Go try it . If you do you will have a greater appreciation for those who work there.

TSC is my last choice for everything. Either out of stock, miss placed in the store, or just don’t carry it. And nobody’s willing to help you.

I started shopping at TSC back in the early 1970s in Minnesota. I have used them extensively, but in the past few years they have really disappointed me. The stores in my area are now clothing and pet supply stores. In fact, I recently told the store manager of the one nearest me that they needed to change their name from Tractor Supply Corporation to Clothing and Dog Food Supply Corporation. They still have a good supply of nuts and bolts.

Their store. Their choice.

Tom in TN

I would guess they had your steering wheel in the back and someone went and found it after you ordered it. Glad you got up and running that fast.

Around here TSC is known as Horsey Supply. Horse stuff stacked to the ceiling, but anything farm related is out of stock.
Blain’s Farm & Fleet and Rural King are the stores I visit most. Both stock lots of farm related inventory.

I understand you.

The problem is the seasonal nature and the all or nothing of many farming supplies.

They seal their own fate when they limit the supply to 5 of something because some computer determined they only sold 5 last month.....

When it’s an item I need 20 of..... well if you have 5 on the shelf why bother picking them up. So I buy none. I need to find 20 someplace 5 doesn’t help at all.

Next fella does the same.

And the same for the next customer.

And so you sold zero this month, and the computer says don’t stock any, you didn’t sell any. When actually you could have sold 60 of them, if they were actually
available.

The computer algorithm lies to you, in some cases.

But I do understand you, and I get it, it is very hard to manage costs and shelf space with such huge sales swings and the seasonal nature of most farming activities.

It’s frustrating for both sides.

That doesn’t excuse the store that had the steering wheel but didn’t find it or help the customer find it until the official order came through. That’s on them, and
disappointing from the customers side of things.

But, at least TSC is doing as well as John Deere, I have had very similar experience where the JD parts guy couldn’t find what I needed, didn’t even think JD ever made
it: it was Ipoh the shelf behind his head.

Paul

I agree. People who have not worked retail will not appreciate it. Easy to complain about something not being in stock, and then there are many customers will complain about anything and everything. Happens in my business still, somebody asks about an item and I say where were you when I needed to sell ten of those 4 months ago? I clearanced them because you had zero interest then! I worked retail once, will not do it again.

I call that place Tuff S*$t Charlie.

(quoted from post at 19:20:19 08/12/20) Yesterday while cleaning up limbs down from the storm, My steering wheel, on my NAA loader tractor took a crap. Stripped the splines on wheel,got it back into the shed, pulled wheel and shaft looks ok. The wheel is softer than the shaft for that reason. No big deal have a TSC 8 miles away,checked on computer to see if they had one and looked like they did. So I dug out the old truck ( might as well make it fun) and drove there. No wheels at all! Talked to 2 clerks and could order may get here 2 to 7 days.I declined and tryed another store, no good.
Came home and got on computer, ordered a wheel(TSC) for local free pickup. Time 1:23 PM , got email that I could pick up at Time 1:43
About 6 PM I called and girl told me it was there. Now that is FAST shipping!!!! joe

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liked Central Tractor back in the day. Not only for the in-store inventory and weekly sales, but also for the vast warehouse that stocked just about anything you could possibly want. A used head for an F-12? Amazing. Tractor Supply is not near as good, but still the best choice around my area. The one thing they seem to have going for them is that the store managers at the three stores I frequent are knowledgeable, helpful, and quick to make things right when you have a problem.

Here's a weird thing: A lot of the newer, self-propelled mowers these days are built by the same supplier and painted several different colors. They all use the same set of cogged wheels on the front, and they wear out. Tractor Supply sells them on the internet for $9.99, but they don't stock them in their stores. Seems like the kind of thing you'd want to have a shelf full.

I guess it's a regional issue. In Alabama, most of the time the folks in stores will bend over backwards to help you. Local TSC was closing out sickle mower guards ,$4.00 down from 14.00. I needed 30+ they had 6. But they checked the computer and then called other stores to find what I needed. I took an afternoon and drove around getting them , but I knew which store had then and which ones didn't.

Rural King was great when they first opened in our area. Now they don't carry much farm stuff at all. We went in ours ther other evening to buy my grandson a claw hammer and there was not a hammer to be found and no carpenters pencils I might add.

We have 2, with another coming in a few weeks, that are within easy driving distance. I dont go to any of them often, but they have come through each time Ive been, when the "others" have failed to have what I need, when I need it or have to order it. For example, last year I needed a new PTO shaft for my brush hog. Called the dealers around me and noone carried just a PTO shaft, or they didnt have one long enough, or for whatever reason didnt have what I wanted/needed. Finally called the local AgriSupply, said they had one, exactly what I wanted but $550! I asked if I could come by and see what all they had to see if something a little cheaper would work, so I took off. Got there only to find that it was a John Deere dealership. that sold parts for AgriSupply, and they only had 3 PTO shafts in the store, but they sure offered up to sell me a new cutter, and tractor, so I left. For the heck of it, I sopped in TSC on the way home. Not only did they have the right shaft, it was less than $200.

(quoted from post at 20:51:24 08/12/20)
When it s an item I need 20 of..... well if you have 5 on the shelf why bother picking them up. So I buy none. I need to find 20 someplace 5 doesn t help at all.

Next fella does the same.

And the same for the next customer.

And so you sold zero this month, and the computer says don t stock any, you didn t sell any. When actually you could have sold 60 of them, if they were actually
available.

The computer algorithm lies to you, in some cases.

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Did any of the customers bother to mention to someone on staff that they could use 20, or, like you, did they angrily storm out of the store without a word?

The computer algorithm can only do so much. It can't read minds.

To me Tractor Supply is not the place to go if you need 20 of ANYTHING, except maybe bolts. You're going to pay way too much even if you can get it. Tractor Supply is for when you need ONE of something to get a machine going, on a Sunday when the machinery dealer is closed.

If I'm putting new guards on a haybine or teeth on a rake, I order them in bulk online, and save a bunch of money. Even the local machinery dealers can do better on price, and they'll have the quantity I need in stock.

Yep.. The store does seal their own fate on lots of things. The steering wheels they might sell maybe two per year. Not many folks knocking down the door to buy a steering wheel. They do replenish inventory and it comes in on a semi truck and is unloaded early in the morning and its the responsibility of 3 or 4 team members to get it all on the shelf by 10:30 that morning. Sounds easy enough right?

Customers come when the store opens and need help loading and unloading and those team members stop stocking and help customers and steering wheels are still in the back room waiting to be picked.

Like I said the demands of customers are really high. Capital enterprise demands profits so that means dumping as much as possible on workers. If they added more people to meet the random bursts of customer activity they would have employees standing around doing nothing and prices would be even higher. Then someone comes in and has to wait a few minutes for help and is completely unhappy because they had to wait.

Since I do the work for the fun of it I am constantly looking for something to do or someone to help. So far I have collected 13 dollars in tips from people that I have gone out of the way to help. I think I'm the only one working there that has gotten tips. I guess those customers feel sorry for me because I'm old and have grey hair or maybe its the enthusiasm.

For 8.95 per hour its hard to get folks that are enthusiastic about doing the work and sad to say even if they paid 18 bucks an hour they would still have lackadaisical lazy employees and over demanding customers that think they are the only person on the planet that matters.

Then you have the shop lifters and scammers and these are people that you would think are fine upstanding people. They buy things and use it then bring it back and say its broken or defective.

This one is a classic.. Cattle panels are 19 bucks each.. Goat panels are 59 bucks. They called a load out in the lot for cattle panels so I went to load them. When I directed the guy to the cattle panel stack he said no its not those its these. (goat panels) . Ok.. Hummm, let me see your ticket . He had paid for cattle panels at 19 dollars each but said he bought goat panels. Earlier in the week he bought 30 panels and pulled a scam on the loader and they loaded goat panels. The loader should have checked his ticket. The guy told me he had been paying 19 dollars for the panels and I told him they sold him the goat panels at cattle panel prices.
He said now the panels won't match and I'm not paying 59 dollars for those. I said well you are already way ahead even if you pay the correct price for these. I'm not paying that price...I'm going to get a refund for these and go buy the others some where else. So he went somewhere else and maybe pulled the same scam. Next year YOU will pay higher prices for the inventory losses.

Like I said.. working there is a real eye opener. It sure is entertaining though..

I have been blessed to have worked alongside many crafts and trades and I have come to understand their pain... That's maybe a part of the worlds problems... Lack of understanding.

You're right the fast moving things like horse and pet food,those type supplies foot the bill for the slow moving farm type inventory that sits around for awhile.

c.oawright,
That was only a scam if the loader was in on the scam.
Otherwise it was loader being stupid and not following protocal.
No different than the loader not marking the receipt or load ticket as being filled. To prevent the customers buddy from coming in later to load up again.

True.. The loader should have checked the ticket but the buyer surely did know the difference in price.

When they quit handling tractor parts years ago Tractor Supply Company was no longer a good name so just decided to use initials so just T S C. And you go in looking for a tractor or implement no parts on shelf for any farm related item. By just using TDC they are trying to get horsey people to come in that would not think about going to a tractor parts store for their horses.

I am impressed by TSC. I used to order from them back in 1959 when I bought my first tractor. They were a small chain in the Midwest. Now they are everywhere, same name, same logo.

But NOT same line of merchandise.

Also it is not same name as it was tractor sipply company, now the tractor and supply are forgoten and only the initials are left but some people still think it stands for tractor supply but that is no longer a fact.

...because if Tractor Supply had continued with its original business model, it would be SOOOOOOOOOOO much more successful than it is now.

Wrong. The company was circling the drain. They were going bankrupt. Someone came in and used a simple principle to turn things around: Sell what sells, don't sell what doesn't sell. Old tractor parts weren't selling. Clothes and pet food were.

I still want to know why y'all don't complain because Walmart doesn't sell walls, or why Kohls doesn't sell coal, or why Target doesn't sell targets. It's ONLY Tractor Supply you complain about.

Here's a novel idea: If a store doesn't have what you want, don't shop there.

How could they have bout out Quality Farm And fleet and Central Tractor if they were going bankrupt? My wife was working there when that happened.