You would be amazed as to how much stuff gets marked out and thrown away. Years ago I worked at Home Depot and I remember them throwing away about $15k worth of cabinets because they weren't selling, there was nothing wrong with them at all. I asked the store manager at the time if I could buy them for my old mans garage but he said it's a tax thing and they must be thrown out. A sad sad waste of perfectly good cabinets.

A tip for those who wish to save a bit of money. If you are ever walking through a retail store and notice all of the inventory tags ("DNI") or the likes check back often because I know that Home Depot for example will clearance or mark out stuff right after inventory has been taken.

How strange that as a society we would scream bloody murder if a business where to do something like this with us, but we have no issue with ripping them off and ignoring our own sense of ethics. Almost makes you with there was another site to complement the "Consumerist" that dealt with all the nasty customers that retail has to put up with.

Had he done a self-checkout on a huge item that cost $10000 and it showed as 1 penny, I'm sure there'd be a court date coming up.

The proper way to handle this would be to announce the error to somebody but also expect the proper deduction that is in place for a scanner error to be applied.

@jstimson: Nope, sorry, that's the risk that a retailer who uses self-checkout runs. Self-checkout is designed to be a self-contained system that gets people out of the door in a hurry, with minimal need for paid cashiers, and it relies on the accuracy of the data within the system. If the retailer screws up and has the wrong price in the system, well, then, tough. A human cashier can catch errors like that, but a customer using an automated checkout system can only assume that, if the price in the system is lower than what he thought (especially on a clearance item), it is accurate.

Wow...Johnny played out all of his cards at once. Including the dreaded "I'll call my attorney!" line.

Johnny is obviously ethically and morally bankrupt. I guess the general viewership here will consider what he did just and acceptable because it happened to a corporate behemoth, but just as animal abusers tend to abuse humans as well, Johnny will be prone to stick it to the mom and pop stores, as well.

At first I was going to call this guy a douch... but then I read more closely and realized the guy was right. Basically this was a clearance item that they then where going to toss, which is why they marked it down to a penny.

If Home Depot was willing enough to drop it to a penny when they removed them from stock, then there is no reason they shouldnt be willing to sell it to the guy.

Now what I would love to know is why they couldnt remove it from stock at its other prices. What financial gymnastics where they trying to pull?

What an unethical dork

Should Home Depot have to sell you a $150 item for $0.01? I don't think so: it would clearly be an error, and I don't think that ripping off people who make accidental mistakes is ethical. Should they, on the other hand, give a damn about someone buying an item they were going to throw away anyway, which is what happened here? No.

Overall, Johnny here should have gotten his item, but I don't blame Home Depot for checking whether the $0.01 price actually made sense.

Also, Johnny writes like an asshole. Sorry.

@FF_Mac: You need to read further than the crappy blurb posted on the front page. Home Depot didnt screw up the pricing on it, they WILLINGLY priced it $.01 and forgot to remove it from the floor.

This guy couldn't be more wrong. He knew that the item didn't cost 0$.01, but instead of notifying the people there, he did the dishonest thing. He knows darn well he got away with a steal, so drop the condescending "taking care of the customer" crap.

@kingKonqueror: They wouldnt have they would have been selling it for 49.00 not .01. Its original price was 199, the guy was picking it up on clearance for 49.

If he really wanted to stick it to them, he should have asked for his penny back since they were going to throw it away anyway as the manager stated. In this case, manager and customer could have acted better. Customer could have said something when it rang up at that price (only because it was at the self checkout). Manager could have said it was mispriced and that the correct price was $49.99 but as a goodwill gesture, split the difference and sell it for $24.99. I'm sure both would have left happy then.

This cheap and litigious man would not have understood if he had paid more than he thought was fair for the saw and Home Depot took his stance, saying 'Too bad - you've already paid fot it.' Consumerist would be getting a letter to the converse.

When you think you are getting away with something, then get caught, and then get mad, you are a baby, and should man-up. Say you get a huge tax refund check and you know it is wrong. Did the Treasurey screw up? Yep. Still, you spend that money and you are the one who get's in trouble. Being a good consumer means looking out for yourself and the stores where you shop. Why are customer service people jerks? Because they deal with jerks - all day, every day. Why do stores have to raise prices to install security cameras and RFID tags? Because people will happily rob them blind otherwise. Quid pro quo.

@Falconfire: I did RTFA. Clearly the item was not meant to be sold at that price. He is still a douchenozzle for taking advantage of the situation. If Home Depot had grossly overcharged him, and refused to refund the money, would you side with Home Depot?

I didn't think so. It's called doing the ethical thing. Apparently, he skipped school that day.

you are a fucking thief, you stole $49.94 from home depot. you were already saving $150 from the original price.

I don't really know which side to take on this issue but one things for sure, this guy acted like a pompous self-absorbed ass with an undue sense of entitlement.

@homerjay:

I'm with you. The guy lucked out; he could at least take a civil tone with the employees. He was really going to engage an attorney over a $50 saw?

So you got to keep the product for a penny but are still going to take your future business elseshere? Yeah you seem like a great, loyal customer I'm sure Home Depot will sorely miss you.

Something similar happened to me at Home Depot a few months ago, albeit it wasn't for a $200 item. I was purchasing two drill bits, which were not on the clearance table, for $8.99 each. The self-checkouts were either not working or had people in line, so I went to a cashier line that was open. The good consumer I am, I watched the pricing on the monitor as she scanned the items. When the drill bits rang up at $0.01, I pointed it out to her and asked if it was correct. She said, "I guess, that is what the computer says." Though I found it hard to believe, I felt like I did my due diligence, paid for the items, and walked out the store.

/No one ran me down
//Didn't have to threaten to call the cops or my attorney (which is good, because I don't have an attorney and would have needed to ask for their phone book to look for one)
///Can we use slashees on Consumerist?

I just don't understand.

We are so quick to point out the enormous bold line between morality and legality when it comes to businesses. We chastise, castigate, and vilify companies who pull tricks like these. Despite being legally sound, everyone knows they are morally bankrupt, and we respond as such.

So why should we see this as any different when it's a consumer performing the morally questionable act? Suddenly that line between the legal and the moral becomes nonexistent. We rationalize his act by pointing out that it was legal, or that the system allows for it.

To me, there is no rationale for this act. This is second to stealing. And, being someone who is very interested in consumer rights and protections, people like this piss me off in the worst kind of way because it gives the rest of us a terrible name. If everyone views us as self-serving jackasses who are more interested in getting a free lunch than we are in actually upholding a set of principles, do you really think the cause will be helped in the end?

Or maybe that's what consumerism has turned into.

Where is the ethic in a company "throwing awaying perfectly good merchandise"? Perhaps products that are priced down to one cent, should be marked for charity.

Apparently its become an us vs. them kind of game, and more likely, at least on this website, they're winning. So when someone takes advantage of a fault in the system, they rack it up as a point for the consumer. What he was actually doing was sounding like a pompous jerk who sounds like a 4 year old throwing a hissy fit, screeching "mine mine mine!"

I agree with what's been said above - if home depot had overcharged, and he'd already paid, he would have been screaming out his ass hole about that instead. Yes, he should have gotten a discount b/c of the error, but should he have taken it for $.01? No. And yes, he writes like, and most likely is, an asshole.

@Falconfire: How was this guy right?! He knew good and well that a $200 item should not be priced for 1 cent.

Pricing is not set at the local store. Many store update prices daily, directly from corporate. If you actually ever worked retail, you would already know this.

The guy is even more of an ass for still complaining about not taking care of the customer, and "never going back.

@zouxou: That is an OUTSTANDING idea. Places like Habitat for Humanity could use stuff like this.

Okay, Johnny was a douche but he was technically correct. The purchase contract was signed, so to speak, when the money exchanged hands and a receipt was given.

Home Depot is famous for having let its standards of customer service and inventory slip in the last few years, and this is just another example of it.

Johnny didn't have to be such an ass, though. Guys like him are what make me glad I don't have a customer service job.

A few good arguments for both sides in here, but I side with Home Depot (for anyone that stayed in the Wal-Mart SSBB thread, yes, I'm siding for the corporation again, no I don't work for Home Depot). If this was indeed the other way around, he would've e-mailed saying how he was ripped off at Home Depot. But instead, he clearly knew there was an error, decided to do the dishonest and unethical thing, rip off Home Depot, proceed to threaten with litigation (over $0.01? Come on, now...), and not even continue business. So he took $50 from Home Depot and is no longer a customer. Clearly, this guy is, as others have stated, a douche.

And yes, he also does write like a douche, as someone else pointed out.

The guy is definetly in the wrong. There must be some sort of law to protect companies in situations like this. Otherwise I could run a scam with somebody who worked at the store.
I could have a friend just take an item that should cost $999.99 and "accidentaly" price it for $99.99. Then I walk in and buy it for $900 off.

No way his case would have held up in court.

This is not a pricing error by Home Depot. They routinely mark items down to $.01 when they are no longer going to carry these items. I have bought the solar powered landscape lights off the clearance shelf for $.01 with no issues from the cashier.

@jeadie5: He'd get his penny back, or get to keep the saw. He wouldn't be able to get attorney's fees if he decided to sue, would he? I'm not versed in the world of law, let alone American law.

I work in retail and if he had shopped where I work and the item scanned at a penny then that is what he pays. We have a policy that if the item scans at a higher price then the shelf tag says then he pays what the tag says but if it scans at a lower price then what the tag says he of course pays what it scanned.

I think this guy was right. I always check the bar codes with the shelf tag to make sure it is the correct item. Why do you think stores have people scanning items everyday? If the person scanning misses something then it's their fault for missing it. When items are on clearance they usually check those first to see if the prices had gone down anymore. Is it ethically wrong when scanners at the place I work at tells some of employees when something has been clearanced at a very low price? Maybe, maybe not but when we are not on the clock we are customers too.

I doubt that this item was going to be thrown away. Usually stores can get some kind of "credit" if they return it to the manufactor (sp?). Alot of seasonal items can not be returned for credit and then they do throw those away but they try to sell it first. Whether they mark it down 50% or way down to 10 cents just to try and get some money off of it.

I once purchased a dress for $1.59 that the clerk was supposed to be ringing up as $159.00. I could afford the real price, but I didn't say a word. I feel guilty about it every time I think about it!

This guy's the wort type of customer and a thief. He's actually doing Home Depot a favor by shopping at Lowe's from now on.

Hey dude way to beat the system. It's business baby there is nothing ethical about it. The corporations try to kill us every day. Feels good to see someone put a hit on them for once. If you want to be moral you have no place in the business world. It's a war. Take no prisoners. Don't even give those pansy ass morality peddling posters a second of your time.

All of you calling him a douche or worse don't seem to understand what the idiots at HD did!

There must be some sort of internal HD policy that all merchandise destined for the dumpster or charity is to be recorded on the books at one cent!
This must be a bookkeeping requirement.
Probably to eliminate internal theft.

Instead, some underpaid grunt, mistakenly put it on a clearance table & the poster picked it up & bought it. Or maybe the manager wanted it for himself & figured out how to game the disposal system & didn't realize it got put in the wrong place!

It's his!
He didn't steal it, he paid for it & the scanner correctly read the bar code & told the register the price.

The only douche here is the manager [no matter why the saw was on the table] & I'll bet the underpaid grunt got fired!

It is a retailers responsibility to ensure the pricing is correct, period. If any error is made, it is the seller who is responsible for the error, and the buyer who needs to be protected. Now, this does not apply to fraud. But in this case, Home Depot marked the item at a price and offered it for sale.

Just because it would be unusual for a clearance item to ring up so low doesn't mean he should assume it was a mistake. At Kohls, clearance items that are marked at $20 or $30 routinely ring up at $0.50 or @0.25, and there are other stores that mark things down ridiculously low when they just want them out of the store. On Amazon you can find all kinds of RAZR phone cases and charger case combos for a penny right now. So it's certainly not unheard of.

@Hambriq: well said.

I worked at Home Depot for 4 years and was a cashier/return/special sales associate. I can tell you from experience that this type of thing happened at Home Depot all the time.

What the manager said about the penny thing is correct. When an item reaches a penny on clearance or discount it is to be thrown away or donated to charity (mostly thrown away).

You should see the things that Home Depot throws away. I once saw them throw out a brand new $600 special order door because a pane of glass was cracked. Hello? Home Depot? Someone will buy that for a discount and fix it!

The problem? Home Depot probably got credit from the company that sold it because it was damaged during shipping and by law has to destroy the item.

Back to the penny thing - this markdown was obviously a mistake and in cases like that the customer should realize. Just because Home Depot is a "big faceless corporation" doesn't mean people don't get hurt.

@Frankadelic

Hey - I like Lowe's and I don't want this prick amoung pricks bringing the place down.

This guy takes advantage of an error through self-checkout, doesn't notify anyone of the error (as an honest person would do), then when the company caught him, he raises hell and declares that he will no longer do business at this company. For all we know, he grabbed the UPC off another item and snuck it through self-checkout and they wanted to verify the item's barcode.

Bad karma + tool that could cut your hand off one day.. yeah that's a good combo.

It's not unheard of I've gotten a $300 compressor on thier clearence rack for $5.99 I eaven asked if that is the correct price and told that it was. The longer an item sits on the clerence rack the lower over time it gets.

I've bought a Ridgid 6 pice 18V set that had two missing tools in it for $16 the gegular price was $699.99 I all ready had that set but bought it because still had all 4 batteries witch cost $99.00 each.

It dosn't happen often but those prices do happen I still think he was a bit of a dick the way he acted. As for some of the other people reread the story IT WAS ON THE CLEARENCE RACK yes at one point it was marked $199 and there may be still modles in the stor at that price but the clerance items are marked indevdualy if ther were three of them on the clerence then it's possiable for all three to ave differnt prices depending how long they have been there.

Politely standing your ground in a situation like this is one thing, but acting like a spoiled child trying to get his way with his mommy and daddy by putching a fit in a store is another.

If the store had a scanner price error policy, or there was a state law that protected consumers in this situation, then I *might* have politely stood my ground at the scanning error (it was the stores error, afterall) and see if there was a middle ground to be found, but I most certainly wouldn't throw a childish hissy fit in the store, threaten to sue, call the cops, etc.

There's a big difference between standing up for yourself, and acting like a child.

Does me good to see that the vast majority of these comments are basically ripping into this clown. Regardless of him being in the technical right or wrong he was a self-entitled ass about it.

"Customers" like these are why companies come up with some of those abusive policies in the first place.

It's a shame that the article does not provide enough information to identify the store where this happened. I think it would be nice if that everyone who interacted with this clown that day could read these comments and see that the rest of us also think of him as the "Home-Depot douche bag".

I worked at Target for a while in college. Clearance merchandise starts at 30% off (now 15%, the cheap bastards!) and goes as low as 90% off. Then it is marked down further, for inventory purposes, and it turns into "salvage", where it's thrown in a giant box and sold by the pound. I'm sure Home Depot is different, but I'm guessing that it was marked down to $0.01 for inventory reasons for salvage/manufacturer return. So IMHO, the price should be honored, since the merchandise was dead weight and its. I couldn't find any legal justification for honoring prices lower than advertised, but I know that if there's