Home Depot Nursery Consultants
Recently the Wall St Journal ran an article about Home Depot training 7000
of its garden center workers to be "nursery consultants" via an online course. Does anyone have information on that course, how I can take it etc.....? |
"wayne crimi" wrote in message ... Recently the Wall St Journal ran an article about Home Depot training 7000 of its garden center workers to be "nursery consultants" via an online course. Does anyone have information on that course, how I can take it etc.....? No wonder they're doing it. I was there 2 days ago. 80% of their plants were ready to drop dead. Meanwhile, 5 minutes away, 2 locally owned nurseries were selling plants that looked like they were ready to be photographed for a plant catalog. |
On 2005-06-21 16:59:01 -0400, "wayne crimi" said:
Recently the Wall St Journal ran an article about Home Depot training 7000 of its garden center workers to be "nursery consultants" via an online course. Does anyone have information on that course, how I can take it etc.....? I wonder what planet they''re working on? Certainly not Earth! -- Chris: "Dad, what's a blowhole for?" Peter: "I'll tell you what it's NOT for and then you'll know why I can never go back to Sea World." |
"Doug Kanter" wrote in message ... "wayne crimi" wrote in message ... Recently the Wall St Journal ran an article about Home Depot training 7000 of its garden center workers to be "nursery consultants" via an online course. Does anyone have information on that course, how I can take it etc.....? No wonder they're doing it. I was there 2 days ago. 80% of their plants were ready to drop dead. Meanwhile, 5 minutes away, 2 locally owned nurseries were selling plants that looked like they were ready to be photographed for a plant catalog. I went to HD today. Same thing. Nearly everything was wilted BADLY, or just plain dead. |
Doug Kanter wrote:
No wonder they're doing it. I was there 2 days ago. 80% of their plants were ready to drop dead. Meanwhile, 5 minutes away, 2 locally owned nurseries were selling plants that looked like they were ready to be photographed for a plant catalog. The Home Depot in my area doesn't have a wide selection of plants, but what they do have is usually in pretty good shape. All the Home Depots may look alike. And they may have theoretical procedures that should be followed at every store. And they may have centralized buyers. But when you get to the garden center, each of them is just a single, stand-alone store. Some take good care of their plants. Some don't. And that's probably why they're training their garden center personnel. -- Warren H. ========== Disclaimer: My views reflect those of myself, and not my employer, my friends, nor (as she often tells me) my wife. Any resemblance to the views of anybody living or dead is coincidental. No animals were hurt in the writing of this response -- unless you count my dog who desperately wants to go outside now. What's on TV? See the new fall network schedules online: http://www.holzemville.com/television/fall2005.html |
"wayne crimi" wrote in message ... Recently the Wall St Journal ran an article about Home Depot training 7000 of its garden center workers to be "nursery consultants" via an online course. Does anyone have information on that course, how I can take it etc.....? More direct answer to your question: I'm in the grocery wholesale business. Home Depot training nursery consultants is analogous to my training brain surgeons. If you're not 90% qualified on your own, simply from the love of plants and years' of experience, forget about the "course" you asked about. YOU are the course. |
"wayne crimi" wrote in
: Recently the Wall St Journal ran an article about Home Depot training 7000 of its garden center workers to be "nursery consultants" via an online course. Does anyone have information on that course, how I can take it etc.....? I am a home depo "nursery consultant" and the online training is at the stores. In a nutshell its 4 hours of computer training on the proper way to care for plants and their needs. ITs very generalized and really has very little value as learning about plants. Its a gimmick to bring in customers. Lowes does the same thing, BTW. |
"me" wrote in message ... "wayne crimi" wrote in : Recently the Wall St Journal ran an article about Home Depot training 7000 of its garden center workers to be "nursery consultants" via an online course. Does anyone have information on that course, how I can take it etc.....? I am a home depo "nursery consultant" and the online training is at the stores. In a nutshell its 4 hours of computer training on the proper way to care for plants and their needs. ITs very generalized and really has very little value as learning about plants. Its a gimmick to bring in customers. Lowes does the same thing, BTW. bullshit. I am a plant specialist at a Lowes, and we have specific waterer's, sales consultants, team leaders, zone managers and managers. My job for the last ten years as a plant specialist requires me to be knowledgable about plants of all kinds, be able to receive plant trucks, handle customers and ordering, displays and other responsibilities. While we're not required to have a master gardener's degree or nursery document, we have several on hands training video tapes and Lowes requires that EVERYONE from managers on down to basic employee's do an hour of training every week. I have been encouraged thru the years to further my abilities regarding the nursery. You might run across a Lowes employee in the nursery that might not know a perennial from an annual, but they're not full time and are possibly the loaders. The waterer has to watch a watering video as well as have training. But I agree that it might seem generalized, but Lowes is more involved. Just selling plants isn't good enough. We have to be able to honestly instruct customers regarding them as the inside garden center people have to have a very substantial knowledge of fertilizers, insecticides and such. We don't have the Lowes Nursery One year guarantee for nothing. dragon |
"dragonryder" wrote in :
I am a home depo "nursery consultant" and the online training is at the stores. In a nutshell its 4 hours of computer training on the proper way to care for plants and their needs. ITs very generalized and really has very little value as learning about plants. Its a gimmick to bring in customers. Lowes does the same thing, BTW. bullshit. I am a plant specialist at a Lowes, and we have specific waterer's, sales consultants, team leaders, zone managers and managers. My job for the last ten years as a plant specialist requires me to be knowledgable about plants of all kinds, be able to receive plant trucks, handle customers and ordering, displays and other responsibilities. While we're not required to have a master gardener's degree or nursery document, we have several on hands training video tapes and Lowes requires that EVERYONE from managers on down to basic employee's do an hour of training every week. I have been encouraged thru the years to further my abilities regarding the nursery. You might run across a Lowes employee in the nursery that might not know a perennial from an annual, but they're not full time and are possibly the loaders. The waterer has to watch a watering video as well as have training. But I agree that it might seem generalized, but Lowes is more involved. Just selling plants isn't good enough. We have to be able to honestly instruct customers regarding them as the inside garden center people have to have a very substantial knowledge of fertilizers, insecticides and such. We don't have the Lowes Nursery One year guarantee for nothing. dragon news flash: home depot has the same guarantee, and in fact I worked for Lowes last year before. I am well aware of Lowes and their policy. Its the same thing but under a different name. |
"me" wrote in message ... "wayne crimi" wrote in : Recently the Wall St Journal ran an article about Home Depot training 7000 of its garden center workers to be "nursery consultants" via an online course. Does anyone have information on that course, how I can take it etc.....? I am a home depo "nursery consultant" and the online training is at the stores. In a nutshell its 4 hours of computer training on the proper way to care for plants and their needs. ITs very generalized and really has very little value as learning about plants. Its a gimmick to bring in customers. Lowes does the same thing, BTW. ......If you took the class that was 4 hrs, you are not the consultant.....The Hort Specialist position requires a 16 hr session(8- 2 hr classes) in which you are moved from sales assoc to hort specialist with a new pay ceiling...... BTW the class is ALL ZONE 9-10 crapola.....You cant pass the classes unless you can put all the questions in relation with Atlanta & surrounding areas......I'm in 7a..What do I care what is in Atlanta....It was a hell of a ride but I got-er-done last March 2004.....I'm none the wiser.....My plants keeling over from time to time is due to the fact that the night crew turns off the irrigation so they don't get their fairy asses wet, and the plants are too stupid to walk to the tap to get water after a 98degree day or when shipped to us dry so the trucking co can save on the weight...(Wet plants weigh more than damp plants, thus affecting the shipping) So when they get to HD or Lowes they are already stressed some and if someone there isn't savvy enough to get them watered, then yea, theres your complaint......The box stores differ from district to district....If your DM is a garden freak, then your stores follow suit....If they worked in lumber their whole career, then you see landscape timbers all over the parking lot and dying plants and poor selections....Give us a break General Public.....We can't please everyone's interest.....While HD and Lowes are getting creamed by you-all, no one is noticing that Wal-Mart is sneaking up on both of us......... More to come..... |
BTW the class is ALL ZONE 9-10 crapola.....You cant pass the classes unless you can put all the questions in relation with Atlanta & surrounding areas......I'm in 7a..What do I care what is in Atlanta....It was a hell of a ride but I got-er-done last March 2004.....I'm none the wiser.....My plants keeling over from time to time is due to the fact that the night crew turns off the irrigation so they don't get their fairy asses wet, and the plants are too stupid to walk to the tap to get water after a 98degree day or when shipped to us dry so the trucking co can save on the weight...(Wet plants weigh more than damp plants, thus affecting the shipping) So when they get to HD or Lowes they are already stressed some and if someone there isn't savvy enough to get them watered, then yea, theres your complaint......The box stores differ from district to district....If your DM is a garden freak, then your stores follow suit....If they worked in lumber their whole career, then you see landscape timbers all over the parking lot and dying plants and poor selections....Give us a break General Public.....We can't please everyone's interest.....While HD and Lowes are getting creamed by you-all, no one is noticing that Wal-Mart is sneaking up on both of us......... More to come..... Yes, I have definately noticed that Wal-mart's plants this year were a lot healthier than last year. As for my local store, I am a gardening freak, so I have taken the time to set up misting systems for most ofthe areas we keep the plants. (that is when the night crew doesn't tear out the hoses with the fork lifts.) Yesterday I think I scared my store manager when I yelled at him because he picked up a plant, not by the pot, but by the stem. |
"KCnRichmond" wrote in message ... "me" wrote in message ... "wayne crimi" wrote in : Recently the Wall St Journal ran an article about Home Depot training 7000 of its garden center workers to be "nursery consultants" via an online course. Does anyone have information on that course, how I can take it etc.....? I am a home depo "nursery consultant" and the online training is at the stores. In a nutshell its 4 hours of computer training on the proper way to care for plants and their needs. ITs very generalized and really has very little value as learning about plants. Its a gimmick to bring in customers. Lowes does the same thing, BTW. ......If you took the class that was 4 hrs, you are not the consultant.....The Hort Specialist position requires a 16 hr session(8- 2 hr classes) in which you are moved from sales assoc to hort specialist with a new pay ceiling...... BTW the class is ALL ZONE 9-10 crapola.....You cant pass the classes unless you can put all the questions in relation with Atlanta & surrounding areas......I'm in 7a..What do I care what is in Atlanta....It was a hell of a ride but I got-er-done last March 2004.....I'm none the wiser.....My plants keeling over from time to time is due to the fact that the night crew turns off the irrigation so they don't get their fairy asses wet, and the plants are too stupid to walk to the tap to get water after a 98degree day or when shipped to us dry so the trucking co can save on the weight...(Wet plants weigh more than damp plants, thus affecting the shipping) So when they get to HD or Lowes they are already stressed some and if someone there isn't savvy enough to get them watered, then yea, theres your complaint......The box stores differ from district to district....If your DM is a garden freak, then your stores follow suit....If they worked in lumber their whole career, then you see landscape timbers all over the parking lot and dying plants and poor selections....Give us a break General Public.....We can't please everyone's interest.....While HD and Lowes are getting creamed by you-all, no one is noticing that Wal-Mart is sneaking up on both of us......... More to come..... The Wal-Mart garden center near me a complete mess, as is the rest of the store. It always looks like a cyclone just struck. Lowe's has consistently better plants than either HD, Wal-Mart, or K-Mart. I suspect, as you point out, that the quality of the garden department depends primarily on how interested management is in that department. I would be afraid to buy any plants from my HD if I didn't see them being unloaded. I know that anything on the sales floor has been stresses over and over due to improper care (or neglect). |
"Vox Humana" wrote in message
... I went to HD today. Same thing. Nearly everything was wilted BADLY, or just plain dead. I went to HD a few weeks ago, and asked about a problem with my tomatoes -- numerous holes in the leaves. The salescritter told me in no uncertain terms that it was caused by watering in sunny weather -- the drops of water cause lensing and burn the leaves. Uh-huh. I did a little research and discovered the *real* problem -- flea beetles. I won't be asking them for advice again.... |
"Doug Kanter" wrote in message ... "wayne crimi" wrote in message ... Recently the Wall St Journal ran an article about Home Depot training 7000 of its garden center workers to be "nursery consultants" via an online course. Does anyone have information on that course, how I can take it etc.....? No wonder they're doing it. I was there 2 days ago. 80% of their plants were ready to drop dead. Meanwhile, 5 minutes away, 2 locally owned nurseries were selling plants that looked like they were ready to be photographed for a plant catalog. HD, Lowe's and Wall-Mart, regardless of what people may call them, are HARDWARE stored and as such are good places to shop. However for living plants, flowers and trees, find a nursery or REAL garden center close by where they will have a wide assortment of well cared for items to choose from. The information and advice about plants and such from these places tend to be much more reliable also. Remember though, even at the nurseries and garden centers chances are good you will still be dealing with people better trained to operate a cash register than they are at giving advice on planting roses. |
"Warren" wrote:
Doug Kanter wrote: No wonder they're doing it. I was there 2 days ago. 80% of their plants were ready to drop dead. Meanwhile, 5 minutes away, 2 locally owned nurseries were selling plants that looked like they were ready to be photographed for a plant catalog. The Home Depot in my area doesn't have a wide selection of plants, but what they do have is usually in pretty good shape. All the Home Depots may look alike. And they may have theoretical procedures that should be followed at every store. And they may have centralized buyers. But when you get to the garden center, each of them is just a single, stand-alone store. Some take good care of their plants. Some don't. Very true. The HD down the street reogranized the garden center and it is laid out better. They also had a better selction thisyear than lastm, but they got the selection late. That said it is very easy to find dry pots & wilted plants. And that's probably why they're training their garden center personnel. I worked in retail for years and I saw extensive training done reepeatedly. In a place like a nursery you need to know what your doing. The Same HD had all the seed rack outside in the rain. The paper envelopes of seeds were all soaked. If you understand that water is a major trigger for germination you know that is a dumb thing, but no one, including the managers at home depot could see how dumb it was. They probably wouldn't train people beyond general good basics and principles. Hot weather, more watering, cooler weather, less. That said I was at a large professional nursery and going through the back lots found entire lots of petunias sickly and dying. Obviously diseased. I also saw a bunhc of cabbage moths visiting the broccoli. Those types of problems I expect to be beyond any sales person except for a profesional in the industry long term. (or a hobbyist) DiGiTAL ViNYL (no email) Zone 6b/7, Westchester Co, NY, 1 mile off L.I.Sound 3rd year gardener http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/royalf...=/2055&.src=ph |
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