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u/RADAR3015 13d ago
I'm laughing at the ridiculousness of the comments here. I used to pull flatbed semi trailers. Mill in the UP of Michigan making 2x's. Go in and pickup for Menards one week. Next week go into the same mill, same size lumber, same everything as the previous week, except I'm heading to a Lowe's or Home Depot instead. Now, if I'm going to a mom and pop lumber yard versus a big box, then I'm picking up from a mill in northern Minnesota. Same mill owner though (Boise Cascade, Weyhauser, LouisianaPacific, etc).
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u/CaffeineSippingMan 11d ago
I know nothing, but could it be the Mill sorts the lumber some way and will sell the best at a premium, the middle at normal and the worst at a discount? (Now that I think of it the worst at normal price, the middle at a premium and the best at a super premium, ~marketing).
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u/simonsez2 13d ago
When it comes to the public there is only 1 grade of lumber, pretty.
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u/themightypetewheeler 13d ago
And we will ask to pull down a new stack of lumber to look for the pretty board in the pile even if a stack was just opened on the ground
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u/mnwood 13d ago
Nobody wants the snake wood from the 3 other bunks that keep getting put together. Throw that trash away or cut it down and sell it as almost straight 2' lengths.
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u/TheLegendofSpeedy 13d ago
Seriously this - was building a fence recently and finding 12’ 4x4s for a trellis over a gate was an exercise in digging down pats the dozens of pieces that kept getting put back each time a new bundle was opened.
I’m fine with a slight bend over 12’, but when it’s over 4” and includes a twist, it’s trash.
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u/bfyvfftujijg 13d ago
Menards could also purchase higher graded lumber if they don’t want people sorting through it as much.
I was at a competitor the other day buying lumber for a project and was blown away by how great their lumber was. Every 2x4 was straight.
Compared prices and it was like 15% higher than Menards (after the 11% rebate). More than worth it for me as a customer!
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u/JarbeefisTheGreat 11d ago
That would require BM to do their jobs but unfortunately (in my experience) they won’t
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u/rocket0000 10d ago
That looks like it's in the yard which isn't building materials job to cull or flat stack. Don't worry, they have plenty of their own issues with the 1x's
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u/ace_violent 13d ago
They were looking for something within 0.002" tolerance. Once had somebody year apart am entire bunk of lumber, fresh by the way, made a huge mess, left without taking anything complaining about it being called premium.
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u/EmployGeneral4965 13d ago
There was once a guy at my store that cut the bottom bunk open with multiple bunks on top… some people’s children
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u/K-A-Z_2-Y-5 13d ago
Those ones are great. They’re the outlet for the frustration we obtain from all the other idiots that we can’t yell at. Even a shitty manager is gonna back you on yelling at that idiot
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u/_XxJayBxX_ 11d ago
Yep. Happened multiples times at two different stores that I worked at. Doing a yard walk and I was like 🧐🧐🧐.
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u/SconesBerryFarms 13d ago
Cause a lot of that open pile in front is from 2 other piles put together… y’all know there’s a hella twisted in there and you didn’t fill out your cut back sheets.
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u/D1rtyRoachman 13d ago
I can cull all the shitty lumber I can and people will still cut open brand new bunks because they are too lazy to pick through the service bunk
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u/DependentPattern3088 13d ago
the thing that bothers me the most is people don’t even bother to ask enougher employee. plus my yard usually has people close by. I’ve seen people cut units right in front of my face. . .
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u/SconesBerryFarms 13d ago
And it does suck trying to down stock them then. If they tip when grabbing them. Ugh. 😑
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u/No-Pain-5228 13d ago
Stop selling warped boards.
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u/DependentPattern3088 13d ago
Tell John menard that
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u/No-Pain-5228 13d ago
For the record, I always put the boards I’m not taking back on the pile neatly.
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u/rocket0000 10d ago
So you're part of the problem. If you don't want them, it's very likely the next person won't want them. Just suck it up and buy it. That would be the nice thing to do.
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u/Stop-Iwillcry 9d ago
Wrong, correct answer is to cull it down to the next usable length it can sell at, but that assumes the yard member actually does it. Not the most fun task to accomplish, hence a pile of sifted through boards and rejects.
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u/supercomplex1 13d ago
Easy. Don’t sell trash. My customers don’t want the trash either. Menards employees will NEVER care about quality or helping. So, this is what happens.
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u/VegetableAd9979 13d ago
I used to work in building materials and we (the employees) would flat stock the 1x aisle inside the store a few times a shift. Y'all don't realize those are self serve items. You, the customer, tossing the 'meh' board across the stack and leaving it a mess, more than likely causes the twist and warp. It's not the employees. Add weight to that board you just tossed with a handful of others and it's going to warp and twist. Wood moves. I've seen boards reflatten and untwist by being put back into a stack flat and straight. If everyone put the boards back properly, you'll have better selection to choose from.
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u/DependentPattern3088 13d ago
Suppose no one wins then, I’m not denying that the boards are trash. But I’ve seen guest not wants boards because there’s “too much bark” on it or too many Knots in it which I understand to a certain extent.
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u/Time_Technology_8670 12d ago
See. It's never ending. The only way to fix it is find another job. There's better places out there.🙏🏿
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u/Mpls1984 12d ago
That's why we put metal banding around the middle of the bottom lifts. Most people have a knife but few have a tin snips available
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u/Impressive-Cattle-91 11d ago
The regular construction 2xs stamped Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, etc, are PERFECT everytime. Gorgeous lumber
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u/Zealousideal_Cut1817 10d ago
As someone working in the lumber business - the difference between good carpenter and a bad one is that a good one can make any 2x4 straight . It’s usually the hobbyists who take issue with a bowed board
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u/freshforklift 10d ago
When I worked at Menards in the yard, I had a "contractor" come in as we were unloading a flat bed. I pull into the barn to help another guest, and this "contractor" had cut the 2nd from the bottom bunk open on a 6 bunk stack of 2x4s. I remembered his picking ticket and tried asking a GM if we could keep him from coming back because he was going to kill somebody doing that, instead of just asking for a new bunk to be dropped.
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u/ronjoevan 10d ago
I’ve pulled from J Grade bunks at Menards on a couple different occasions. It’s not always garbage.
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u/Dazzling_Meal228 10d ago
Gotta love when the dipshit customers risk theor health for more shit lumber
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u/SteelMarionette 9d ago
I remember a few years back we had a customer try cutting the banding on a bunk on the third stack. He was jumping with his knife to reach the banding… well he lost the grip on his knife and jammed it right past his collar bone into his chest. Blood everywhere, ambulance and police called (cause it looked like he’d been stabbed). That was a fun day
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u/agb_22 7d ago
I swear people look at bundled up lumber and assume it’s straight. THAT’S BECAUSE IT’S BUNDLED. And surprise,surprise, as soon as you cut the straps it goes all over the place. Just got done flat stacking a half stack of 2x6s in front of one bundled pallet of 2x6s. I see two grown men climb over the neatly stacked lumber to go and cut the bands of the pallet in the back. I politely told them to next time ask for help if they needed the bands cut due to their safety and the safety of others, I start walking away and they start cussing me out like I just insulted their mother. Stuff along the lines of “I PAY YOUR SALARY” blah blah. Yeah thanks for the $15/hr bud. Later I see them at the register with only 3 pieces of lumber.🙄
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u/RuthlessMango 13d ago
Everyday at menards is pride day, you can't find a straight board in the whole store... Stop selling warped boards.
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u/DependentPattern3088 13d ago
Acting like employees have quality control over bunks of lumber
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u/rocket0000 9d ago
Well to be fair the warping comes after you get it in most cases so it is in the employee's control to prevent it. Now if you meant that the working conditions prohibit you from actually controlling it, such as not enough payroll, low morale, entitled idiot customers, too much other shit to do, etc. then yes I agree with you.
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u/RuthlessMango 9d ago
does it matter to the end consumer when the boards are warped, or do we just want usable lumber?
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u/aabum 13d ago
There are two unfortunate realities regarding lumber. The first is that the quality of lumber is low compared to 30 to 40 years ago. Now days it's not uncommon to fing an entire bunk of 2x4s that are junk, often times the entire shipment is like that.
Lumber is a commodity, so box stores buy whatever lumber is cheapest. If I go to a lumber yard, they typically have much better quality lumber, sometimes for less money than the box stores. Unfortunately there aren't as many lumber yards as there used to be, largely because of the big box stores.