Home Depot Deal Alerts & Discussion Thread

A week ago I left for Ohio from CT. I thought I would test out my theories at the Home Depots along the way. During my trip I would be passing thru New York and Pennsylvania. I set my GPS to include any HD’s that were no more than 1 mile off route, there were 7. What a great way to break up a 550 mile trip!
The first store was in Waterbury, CT. That store is about 35 miles out and I don’t often visit that store as I have no occasion to.

Waterbury, CT
8:43 AM

Too bad I parked so far from the front door! I had to walk all the way back to off load this drill pack I found in the recycle bin

It’s one of the newer Makita 3.0Ah packs with the “star”. That means it has the BMS on board and actually has a lifetime warranty. Why would anyone toss one in the recycle bin?
I found 2 displays with this worklight, they had about 50 pieces in all. These are only 45 lumen and run on 3-AAA cells, not included. It’s a fair light and at $1.52 makes a good stocking stuffer.

I searched around for “penny” items, the only item that could qualify was this Power meter. Functionally it is like the Kill-a-watt meters and can measure the amount of energy used be an appliance or electrical device.

I could tell from the price, on clearance and ends with a “3” that it could be a good candidate. The date of 03/22/14 is certainly old enough, so I brought one up to scan and sure enough it’s a penny. There were 2 so I went back and got the second one too. Got 4 of the work lights also.

From there I traveled on to the Danbury store. At this store I struck out! (maybe jmpaul320 was already there?)
9:50 AM

I am fairly certain my theories hold true in CT, but do they extend beyond my home state borders? Can I find “penny” deals in other States?

Next store is Brewster, NY. I am starting to get a little smarter, parking closer to the front entrance.
10:44 AM

to be continued………………

EDIT:

continued

BTW, as I walk into each store I have been checking out the recycle bins for Drill packs. The recycle bins are usually right next to the returns counter just inside the entrance. Occasionally they are behind the return counter so it is impossible to check them. No worthwhile packs in Brewster, but after having walked the store I did find 1 penny item. It was the florescent “Silva” light that I had posted about earlier. It was on a shelf with other odds and ends with no pricing. It was only because I had come across it before at a penny that I figured that it too might be a penny. Also in that pile was another of the propane gauges that I had come across before. I had paid as little as $5 for it. This time I was hoping it would be a penny, but it was still $5. Instead of bringing the propane gauge back, I thought of one more person I could gift it too so I checked out.


On the road again. (Canned Heat, 1967)
Next stop,
Middletown, NY 11:54 AM

At this store the recycle bin outside in the vestibule! But there is a baffle at the top that makes it impossible to reach in.
The rest of the store was a bust also. :frowning:
But I did come across a table of odds and ends. Nothing of interest except for about 10 - 4 foot, 12 outlet power strips. No prices on them though, but I suspected they could be on clearance so I brought one up to scan. It scanned at $15.06. That means that it could be on that price spiral. An item like that usually goes for about $40, so $15.06 is a good price. I was tempted to get the one, but I brought it back.
On to Monticello N.Y. 1:04 PM

As always, I first checked the recycle bin, nothing, then on into the store.
First thing I ran into was a display for the very same 12 outlet power strips as the last store. This time they were hanging in electrical and were priced at the scanned price of $15.06. The date on the tag was 06/09/14, just days away from another price reduction!, maybe. I would be coming back this way in a week, I made a mental note (more like a mental obsession) to stop by. That new price, when it comes will end with an “03”


I turned the corner and came upon this display.
“LED Madness CLEARANCE, check it out.

I didn’t need to check it out, I instantly recognized a couple of the penny lights in the lower right hand corner.

Scanned them and sure enough a penny. I also saw this one on the regular light shelf and I also recognized it as a ”penny light” but it scanned at $16.97, not the penny or even the displayed price of $20.97.


Now it’s about 1:30PM and according to my GPS there is only 1 more HD until Ohio, about 6 hours further in Erie, PA. Up until now, I have been hitting a HD once about every hour or so.
What am I going to do for the next 6 hours, just drive How boring.
My GPS has “an along the way” function that will find “points of interest” locations that are no more than a mile or so out of the way. I used my HD app on my smart phone and found 1 HD that was along the way, about 3 hours out and not too far out of the way. So I set course for that one. Nice way to break up that 6 hours of deprivation.
Painted Post, N.Y. 4:47 PM

I walked the store and found no penny deals, but I did find this. I have never noticed these before and wouldn’t even have given it a second look except for the fact that I found those 5 USB outlets in an earlier post about a week ago. These were 16.88 and are reduced to $4.32. Not a bad price for what it is. It screws into an existing outlet and gives you 4 swivel outlets AND 2 USB charging ports.

They were displayed in 2 different places and they had about 20 of them. Like I said, I have never noticed them before in any HD store.

The date on the tag is 10/27/14, so I wouldn’t expect them to be reduced further anytime soon?
On the other hand, I have seen prices that end with a “2” go to a penny before.
I also saw these again. So I bought another.


After I went outside, I thought that rotating swivel outlet was just too cool, so I went back in for another.

Days later, after I had arrived in Ohio, I saw those units in a Radio Shack. I had already decided that I blew it, I should have gotten more as Christmas gifts. What I saw in Radio Shack only confirmed what I had already concluded. These units were well worth the price at $4.32!
Radio Shack asks $24.99! (No wonder they probably won’t be around after Christmas)

Well, on to the last HD during my trip to Ohio.
Erie, PA 8:24PM

Usually when I make this trip and arrive in Erie I make a bee line for my FAVORITE restaurant, GOLDEN CORRAL. All you can eat, just my kind of place. But THIS time I went straight to HD across the street. It’s 8:30PM and HD closes at 9. No time to do both. I struck out in the store but I found a new old stock Ryobi Drill pack in the recycle bin. Instead of all I could eat steak, I had a hamburger at BK. ECK.

Well I must conclude that my penny hunt didn’t go as well as I had hoped. I did prove that these penny deals are wide spread, I believe my lack of GREAT success was more of a matter of timing than anything else. I am quite sure that if I was at those same stores a month ago when all those penny deals were first taking place, I would have been MUCH more successful.

On the return trip I made it a point to stop at the Painted Post store for a few more of those $4.32 swivel outlets, but they were all gone! I was sick about that, did they go to a penny and I missed out? Or did someone else buy them all?
I also stopped back at Monticello to check on those 12 outlet power strips that were $15.06. When I got there, the display was still as I had left it a week earlier, price tag still at $15.06. I grabbed one and brought it up to scan anyway.
I was right!, they reduced the price again while I was gone. They scanned for $5.03
I bought all 7 that they had. The only reason they were still there is they neglected to change the price tag.
Not only that, but I found 3 of the swivel outlet devices that were sold out of the other store. There they were, hanging nearby marked at $16.88, but I knew they would scan at $4.32, so I grabbed the last 3. Once again, the only reason they were still there is they neglected to change the price tag.
A happy ending to a very long story.

If you check with a instore price checker, will it register them as 1 cent or only on checkout?

If you check with a instore price checker, will it register them as 1 cent or only on checkout?

Price scan at the self checkout will show a penny. The HD app on my phone will either show “Oops, not found” or full list price when an item has been reduced to a penny. Those are clues that it could scan for a penny.
Just today I found this deal at my hometown HD, but I passed. I could never have gotten it scanned in the checkout lane as the box was too huge to hold up and pass over the scanner. It would have required assistance from an employee with a hand scanner. I took the down the tag and scanned the tag.

will employees often refuse to sell you 1 cent items if you go to a regular register?

That 1 cent chandelier though!

Price scan at the self checkout will show a penny.
So that means you’ve bought it before you know for sure?

Or can you scan at the self checkout to find out the price and decide at that point?

HD self-checkouts have a 'Price-check' button, you can check and then either cancel or add it to the transaction. I wish Lowes had it.

Thanks dchomak that’s nice information to know. Next time I’m at HD I’ll have a look around.

I finished up the tale of my Home Depot Trek in post 200

HERE

Don’t they give you a hard time about fishing around in these recycle bin? Have they ever confronted you?

Our son wanted to look at the new computer at Best Buy. They have these bins in the lobby for recycling various things and one was even overstuffed with chargers. I was tempted to have a look but my wife though it was not a good idea since they watch people like a hawk. She’s probably right.

Wow! The detours to the HD's made up for the gas you used.

Great stuff dchomak. Your theories have been working down here in South Carolina. Once in the while, I pick up something for a penny. The only difference appears to be that items take much more time before they start the downward markdown spiral. They also seem to be better about getting stuff off the shelves down here.

Heads up. These dropped to $5.03 in my store. I bought the two they had left at that price as I figured they would be long gone before the price hit $0.01.

Don’t worry, I didn’t miss out. Later in that same post I mentioned I followed up and got them also for $5.03. Took all 7 that store had left :slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

Isn’t that a GREAT price for these? You’ve gotta be real happy with these. I am.

I missed the followup as I was reading your post on my phone as I was walking around the store.

And yes I’m ecstatic. I want to go hit up another location about 10 mins away and see if I can grab a couple more.

I hit two home depots today for things i needed on clearance, and tried to replicate your success, no dice at all, nothing in the home depot clearance or otherwise rang up below the price on the tags or shelves
If you ever come to Canada i would be curious if you can replicate your success.

Was at a different HD today looking for more of those power strips and I came across this buried on an end cap at the back of the store. It was $4.95 so I grabbed one.

What interested me was that it said this on the package…

Could it be? Lets find out…

Making Progress…

It looks like it’s the right size…

Success!

And to think it’s an LG 18650 for $4.95. But wait, it’s only 1300mAh. Probably going to leave this in the mister and use it this summer or give it away.

I never noticed those before. I would bet that should be a 20-25 dollar item. I’m guessing there were no other power strips? Did your store have them displayed at $5.03 or were they still displayed at a higher price?

I just noticed that in post #3 of this thread I had found the Ryobi Trimmer for the clearanced price of $58.06, ends with a “6”

Then in post #12, 10 days later, I bought another one at a further reduced reduced price of $38.03, ends with a “3”.

I wasn’t making that “6” and “3” connection back then.

I hit two other HD’s in the area but found no other power strips left. They were marked at $5.03 at the store I bought mine at.

I have my eye on a table lamp at my local HD that is priced at $49.06 but the last time I scanned it, it was at $13.03…

Also there are some USB power packs that look like they are due to go to a penny in a couple weeks.