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Subject: FW: Home Depot - anti U.S. Government!!!

Should we place bets on long it takes to retract this dumb management decision???!!! They'll lose some regular business just because it hacks off some nongovernment shoppers!


Home Depot Inc., the nation's largest hardware and home-improvement chain, has told its
1,400 stores not to do business with the U.S. government or its representatives.

The Post-Dispatch checked with managers at 38 stores in 11 states. All but two said they
had received instructions from Home Depot's corporate headquarters this month not to take
government credit cards, purchase orders or even cash if the items are being used by the
federal government.

"Engaging in business practices with the federal government is not a strategic focus of the
Home Depot," company spokesman Tom Gray said. "The Home Depot is not and does not
plan to become a federal contractor or subcontractor."

When asked what the statement meant and what it had to do with purchases by an FBI
agent in St. Louis or an Environmental Protection Agency investigator in Seattle or a supply
sergeant for an Army Reserve unit in Ohio, Gray declined to comment, other than to say it's
an old policy.

But the store managers contacted said they received the policy within the last couple of
weeks.

Responding to an e-mail request for clarification, Gray said the refusal to sell to the
government was "a business decision based upon the company's strategic direction."

The General Services Administration, the government's quartermaster, just learned of the
policy.

"I was contacted by the Department of Defense last week, and they said that some of their
people were stopped from making purchases at Home Depot," Susan McIver, director of the
GSA's Services Acquisition Center, said Friday.

"Home Depot has not contacted us, so I've got no idea what their problem is. We are
checking with the other federal agencies to see what they are encountering and then will call
the company."

As of April, 384,520 government employees were using "GSA Smart Pay" cards for
purchases other than travel or fleet operations, McIver said. Congress approved use of the
cards to reduce paperwork and to streamline the paying of merchants.

"Use of the cards is mandatory for purchases under $2,500," she said, adding that last year,
$3.7 billion was charged to the cards, which are backed by Visa and MasterCard.

McIver called Home Depot's actions "puzzling."

"This is the first company I've ever heard of establishing a policy of not doing business with
the federal government. I find it hard to understand," she said.

She described a continuous stream of calls to her office each day from businesses eager to
sell to the government.

Most of Home Depot's managers interviewed by the Post-Dispatch shared the confusion. All
the managers contacted declined to be quoted, but most said they didn't know what was
behind the company's refusal to sell to the federal government.

Some, especially those near military bases and large federal complexes, said the policy
would cost Home Depot a significant amount of money, but they would make no estimates
of how much.

One Home Depot associate at a store in San Diego said, "It feels weird telling some kid in
uniform that I can't sell him 10 gallons of paint because we don't do business with the
government."

The notification that Home Depot sent from its Atlanta headquarters to its stores offers little
explanation of why the decision was made.

But the document, which was obtained by the Post-Dispatch, offers elaborate detail on how
the policy is supposed to be implemented:

- Under one scenario, a customer wants to buy 3,000 light bulbs and asks that the product
be delivered to a military base. "That transaction should not be processed," the document
says.

- Another scenario describes a person trying to purchase lumber and presenting a
purchase order listed to the GSA. "This transaction cannot be processed," the document
says.

OoA third scenario uses a customer who pays cash and asks Home Depot to deliver the
purchase to a federal address. The customer is told no, and he asks to rent a Home Depot
truck. "Since you are aware that the transaction is for the federal government, you cannot
process it," the document says.

If store personnel are questioned by customers, the document advises, they should
respond that "our focus is directed at do-it-yourselfers and private contractors" and "this has
always been our policy."

The notification has a section that says commercial credit-card customers will receive a
notice with their June bill that purchases could not be made "that would cause the company
to be covered by or responsible in any way for compliance with" three federal laws or
executive orders:

OoExecutive Order 11246 of 1965, which bans discrimination against any employee or
applicant for employment because of race, color, religion, sex or national origin.

- Section 503 and Section 505 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which requires affirmative
action and prohibits employment discrimination by federal government contractors and
subcontractors.

- The Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974, which requires that
anyone doing business worth $25,000 or more with the federal government must take
affirmative action to hire and to promote qualified targeted veterans, including special
disabled veterans, veterans of the Vietnam era, and any other veterans who served on active
duty during a war or in a campaign or an expedition. It would apply to Gulf War veterans and
those fighting the war on terrorism.

"We are going to the agencies who issued those three laws they mentioned and try to
determine whether those laws would have some kind of impact on Home Depot which
might explain its actions," McIver said.

"This will impact many agencies who might have needs to go to Home Depot. But they can
get those needs met by going to other stores."

A spokesperson for Lowe's Cos., the nation's second-largest home improvement chain,
said that it still sells to the government and that it will continue to do so.

What about this no support for the protectors of our constitution.

Home Depot might not want to sell to the government, but this month, it reached agreement
with the U.S. Labor Department to "recruit, screen and refer" 40,000 job applicants to work in
the company's new stores that are being opened "every 47 hours."

Home Depot was founded in 1978. It operates in 49 states and overseas and has a work
force of 250,000 people. Last year, it had sales of $53.6 billion.

What an outrage!!!! I must say, as a military member myself, sitting here on 12 on, 12 OFF, protecting THEIR RIGHTS, and FREEDOMS to have whatever crappy job they deem appropriate, that I am THOROUGHLY pissed!
I hope there is some SERIOUS inquiries into this...

Ray

Why do they not want to sell to the government? Is that non PC. Did some treehuggers in Berkeley get upset over this while drinking their "Fair Trade" coffee and reading their treehugger propaganda newsletters?

Could it be to protect there stock? With stores overseas and terrorism what it is now, perhaps they feel they will be safer showing that they do not support your government.

Just my guess. Maybe you guys should do the same, and not shop at stores that won't support you efforts.

I,m military if they do not support us why support them

my little brothers military, close enough for me, i'm never goin back.

I USED TO go to Home Depot for everything. I guess that is what I get for dedicating my life to our country.
"Dedicated to do-it-yourselfers" my a$$. If the govt needs to buy from them it's because we (as service members) are fixing up facilities for our wellbeing and morale.
What a crock of $h!t.

Well, I was never their biggest customer but now I am a former customer.

Fine. So be it.

I always thought their prices and service sucked hind tit anyway.

Looks like from now on it's another 1/4 mile down the street to Lowe's or Ace Hardware.

Perhaps they'll suffer the ultimate embarrassment of having their stores sold off and becoming Scotty's or West mega-stores.

it says in the article that they don't want to be considered a government contractor/subcontractor by selling to members of the government.
which is totally ridiculous logic.
home depot is not a contractor or subcontractor, it's a damn retail chain selling crap that people would have normally gotten from a contractor/sub. before the days of Home Depot and the explosion of "DIY" jobs.

that is totally messed up and I'm really surprised they're able to do this.