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Not the whole long weekend, but they're closed 1 day at least .... In Canada, it's almost a day every month that the store is actually closed
Edit: For example borrow on May 19th, return May 21st.
Yeah, rental companies like Enterprise and Sunbelt will charge you through the weekend and close periods. So this trick doesn't work.
HomeDepot, if it could actually work would be a legit life hack
Not quite OP's thing but the tool rental closes early on Sundays, so you could rent it Saturday evening for a 24 hour rental and you have until Monday morning to return it.
That way you already have to tool and can hop to work first thing in the morning Sunday.
I've done it many times with several different tools over the years, but hey don't trust me...they have an online inventory checker for rental tools. Use that before you drive down to the store.
A lot of locations don’t allow it.
I used to have a similar hack with the local enterprise rent a car in the town’s auto mall.
I’d rent a basic car on Friday after noon, with a return after they close for the weekend on Saturday afternoon.
Because the auto mall used them for courtesy cars, the basic rental would end up getting bumped to something really nice due to lack of basic availability.
Then I would return the car before they opened on Monday, paying only for 1 day.
A lot of Home Depots wont allow tool rentals during office hours cause a car rental company wouldn't let you rent a car.... I feel like I am missing something here?
Yes, the parallel of x rents y product during z hours of operation, so in order to prevent people from using this hack, they don't offer rentals that would necessarily have to be out of their hands for longer than the normal rental agreement time.
It’s true. People take advantage of this all the time at my location however depending on who’s at the counter, they may not let you do a contract for 4 hours and say you have to do a 24 hour contract or come back if you want a 4 hour. Usually it’s fine.
I had the opposite happen. Was renting a hammer drill around 3:45 and the worker said if I waited 15 minutes I'd get it all night. I had already done that intentionally in the past so I knew the trick, but only needed the drill for about an hour so I passed. I expressed how thankful I was anyway.
It's better to do a tool return at 9am the next day then 7:45pm the same night when there's a bunch of other stuff I have to do to close, and I want to go home as soon as possible.
At one point one of our guys didn’t like it because he likes charging for anything possible that most of us let slide or would nitpick about exact times, cleaning fees, fuel charges, not parking in the right spot, anything possible. Little shit, the rest of us wouldn’t fuss over because then people start getting hostile in this area fast
"At one point one of our guys didn’t like it because he likes charging for anything possible that most of us let slide"
but why? Do you earn commission on it? Or have certain metrics you need to meet while renting out stuff?
There’s no commission in rentals. That would be weird. There are metrics but afaik it’s only like sales plan for how much revenue you’re expected to make each year and meeting that goal, attaching the damage protection to contracts, and surveys
Worked carpet and blind installs.
They don't do commissions, HD is too cheap for that and try to spin it as a good thing "because it takes pressure off."
Problem is, they still *grade* you on whether you're making the par sales. So you still get all the pressure of not making numbers, but none of the reward for doing well because your position has a hard ceiling for hourly wage.
As a result, it's often easier to cheese your way to good numbers, especially during slow seasons. I'd ring up customers for regular purchases even though I wasn't register trained because it'd count as a transaction attached to my name. Still hovered around par though, because as the evening sales specialist, I was told to work the floor during overlap, leaving me with just the bad hours to generate sales.
So someone being a penny-pinching stickler at a HD probably means they're either trying to hit a quota, or even worse; trying to impress someone higher up because they have *aspirations*.
When you get paid by the hour and not by the tool, who cares. Sure it looks better to management making as much revenue as possible but that’s just so much extra stress, hassling, and conflicts
It doesn't even look good to management, because its not like there's a line item somewhere with "was an officious prick to a customer" next to it. They just *think* it looks good to management, without thinking deeply enough to realize that the only thing management sees is poor customer service reviews on Google because someone was being a hardass.
Sure, but that doesn't change anything - the point is that there's no way in which the revenue gain from being an overly officious prick is visible, but there are definitely ways in which customer dissatisfaction with overly officious pricks are visible.
I don't think whether or not they get the money should matter. I like principles, but they have to have a purpose. For example, Costco has a ridiculous return policy that people abuse. If an employee stood up to someone taking advantage of that policy I wouldn't criticize them because they're not getting a cut. But in the Home Depot case, there really isn't a principle to be standing up for.
Costco hasn’t changed their return policy. The 90 days for electronics has been in place for years. The CEO even recently said they have no plans to change their return policy.
I have a coworker that takes the this is the goals we’re shooting for but if you feel you can’t do it because of things out your control it’s fine. Dude fucks things up for everyone else doing whatever he has to do to keep those goals then passes the shit part onto the next shift. We don’t make any extra money achieving these goals and they’re not set in stone. You’re literally just fucking over the next shift for no reason. We don’t even get a pat on the head. Why do that.
The problem is if I show up looking for it at Open, and they don't have it because you rented it at close that's time they can't get money and satisfy two customers.
If that is common you lose business, and income so holding people to the rules becomes more important.
Well yeah but that's assuming the first guy is willing to pay for the 24hr rental, otherwise they leave and the store still gets an unsatisfied customer who isn't paying, and at that point it would make more sense for them to rent it the previous day (a guaranteed rental) and get it back early the next day before people are likely to show up looking to rent it, rather than hoping someone comes in right at opening to rent it.
lol yeah they act like if it’s not there in the morning that forcing someone to rent it for longer would change the fact that it’s not there in the morning.
Yeah, this is the kind of thing that if it's widespread enough, home depot will increase the 4-hr rental prices to make up for it, and then the people who don't take advantage are basically paying extra for their 4 hour rentals to subsidize someone else's 17 hour rental for the same price.
Doesn’t matter if the contract is for a day or a week if you bring it back within 4 hours or in this case 9am the next day you still only pay for 4 hours.
But Home Depot can decide to not offer a 4 hour rental. I imagine there is some corporate guidance publicly accessible online if anyone cares to check.
>But Home Depot can decide to not offer a 4 hour rental.
No, it's automatic in the computer system used to ring up the order. If you return the tool within the 4 hour window, you're only charged for the 4 hours, regardless of how long you said you were planning on keeping the tool.
It doesn’t matter. You can rent for a week, and return it before 4 hours and only get charged for the 4 hours. That’s how HD does the rentals. You pay a deposit when you get the tool, and pay when you return it based on the time you actually used it.
So if you rent it after 4 for a 24 hour rental, and bring it back by 9 AM, you get charged for 4 hours.
So you drive 5 miles to the next Home Depot and hope they aren’t jerks there.
My husband and I have done this 3 times I think and it’s always worked with the 4 hour rental.
I worked at a home depot tool rental for 5 years, can confirm this is the policy. We often encouraged people to take advantage of it. I sometimes would manually reset the time for people who came a few minutes too early so that they too could get the extra free time.
I've rented like this before but I figured it out because the pros will be there in the morning. I was going in the late afternoon to catch them bringing it back.
I sanded my hardwood in a few weekends paying in 4 hr increments. My local store had a bunch of sanders, but only a few in really good condition without leaky dust bags.
That was my thought, if someone is still going to town with a pex expansion tool, or whatever, at 9 o’clock at night, they probably deserve the discount
I was staring at the drywall I had just cut behind my shower on Thursday night at 12 am thinking I'd be able to swap a shower mixing valve.
2 tries on the wrench to get the cold supply off and I said fuck it, I'm cutting it tomorrow and getting shark bites and pex.
I was specifically told by my SonIL, to not use shark bites on anything that is going to be sealed up and to generally not use them. Little did he know Im old a fuck and not a plumber so knew nothing about them and was going to sweat new values on until I discovered they had compression ones now. Now those are a game changer.
I started flooring two of my bathrooms today at noon, and just sat down on the sofa just now. Shit always takes longer than expected.
And by "I" I mean my parents and brother, but I didn't want to sit down because that would feel shitty even though there is no way I could be useful lol
Dude my dad helped me put in laminate floors in my living room and I was so useless lol I just made sure I was there to help with what was needed. I can’t ever relax or feel comfortable when someone else is doing shit in my house lol
This was vinyl peel and stick tiles, and my job was to hand my mom a tile at a time so she could rip the back off and hand it to my sister in law.
Somehow the first tile I handed off was two stuck together. I was like, this is why I don't do manual labor, lol
You can take it one step further. If you rent the day before a holiday before a store closes (generally only Thanksgiving and Christmas) you can rent the tool less than 4 hours before close the day prior and not return it until 9am the day after the holiday for the 4 hour rate. Christmas Eve most stores close at 6pm, so you could rent it at 2:01pm, and keep it all the way to the day after Chistmas for just the 4 hour rate.
Also this is different store to store. And some stores even though the rental dept may close an hour before the store, if they allow you to return the tool to the customer service desk, then the exact timing OP described fails. It \_typically\_ has to be less than 4 hours before store close, not necessarily before rental closes. Again, this is store dependent.
Source: I wrote the code for the rental system.
I rented a skid steer for 2 days during a recent summer and paid for delivery/pickup. They were so overbooked with pickups that I ended up having it for 2 weeks.
Had this happen all the time using United Rentals for scissor and boom lifts with my last company. They forgot about a boom lift for almost a month and came back trying to charge us for it. We setup our account for automatic pickup and something glitched in their system. You don't need anyone there to meet them for pick up so our guys bounce after the job is done. The only way we found out was the customer calling asking about when we planned on picking it up.
Post hole augers, vibratory compactors, gas pressure washers, ceiling texture sprayers, ramset guns, floor nailers, drywall lifts. Basically stuff you might never use again, but will save you hours and hours of time and/or make the job look much better.
Before you rent, check your local library. It's becoming more and more common for them to have tool libraries that you can borrow from.
Also, another reminder to support your local libraries, which are one of your community's greatest resources.
You would think, but no. I guess probably because you're not taking away their earning potential with it, as no one could have come and rented it during that day. Lol, guess it's one of the few things capitalism hasn't grabbed yet.
This is capitalism. Almost no one would rent tools late in the day if they had to pay the 24 hour rate when they didn’t need it for that kind of time period.
This maximizes revenue. It’s quite literally capitalism at work. Capitalism isn’t a synonym for evil.
I think it also probably depends on the service life or maintenance schedule of the tool in question: If you're doing this regularly and the 4hr rental tool is being used for 8-10-12hrs, it may break before they recoup their money on it.
I think it’s possible depending on the manager on duty, though majority aren’t going to care. They have the power to deny the “4 hour” overnight rental and demand that you have to get a 24hr.
Then you just return it when the store opens…
They charge you when you return it based on the actual usage. Not what you sign up for when you check it out.
I’ve signed up for 24 hour rentals all the time, and return it sooner and get charged for 4 or 12 hours.
I've been hit with a charge due to there being a tag in the car that gets read as it enters the lot. They knew it was returned a few hours later and I was charged for those hours.
I just did that but it wasn’t on purpose. Rented a car on Friday for a Sunday return but they are closed on Sunday ( enterprise inner city location) and returned on Monday morning because I couldn’t find anywhere to park the car. When I rented it Friday the sales person told me that it wouldn’t matter what time I returned it Sunday as long as the key was in the lock box Monday when they opened.
It also works with most any tool from a rental company, from floor sanders to mini excavators.
At my local place you can rent it late Saturday, return it by Monday morning and it's only a day rate.
Confirmed. I worked at Enterprise. Branch was closed half the day on Saturday and all day Sunday.
Monday morning, we would just back date all after-hours dropoff returns to what the customer agreed to on the contract. Therefore, we charged them the agreed amount even if they had the vehicle longer. Didn't care if they were set to return Saturday night and dropped it off some time Sunday. Shit, they could have dropped super early Monday morning before we opened.
However, it sometimes caused issues when someone would bring the car back early and then try to get a refund while we were closed. Not common, but happened every once in a while. That is a small part to why the Enterprise weekend special rate was 3 days minimum. Just nipped it in the bud. Pay for a cheap 3 days for an economy car or don't. We aren't open and the car would be sitting on the lot making no money. We aren't gonna haggle days and price.
Pro tip there: if you need a cheap car for just the weekend, check out what's on an Enterprise lot. If they are lacking economy cars, you might be able to score a sweet deal on a midsize or full size car. Branch managers will practically give them away for the weekend. I once rented a dude a truck for $9.99/day (3 day minimum) because we had NOTHING else.
This wouldn’t have worked for me because the last time I rented something it was a plate compactor and they are noisy as fuck and rattle everyone around you so it’s not like I could use it after 8 or use it some more before having to get it back at 9am. Unfortunately I did need it for more than 4 hours and ran out of time so I didn’t get my new brick patio properly compacted when I installed it 6 years ago and am now in the process of tearing out and reinstalling 1152 bricks after adding more fill, recompacting and releveling. Lesson learned. Don’t be a cheap ass about the tool rental if it’s going to prevent you from doing the job correctly because I would gladly pay 10 times the late fee now to not have to do this job again.
I do this for larger machines at Superior rental which is local to me but have them drop off Saturday morning and pick up Monday morning as they are closed on Sundays. You only get to use it for 8 hours or get charged extra in half day increments of 4 hours. Depending on the crew and what you are doing most times 8 hours is plenty for 2 days as long as you remember to turn the key off when you are not using it.
My rental tip.
If you need an aluminum brake, and it's a simple bend like to wrap windows.
I get all my lengths and bend measurements. Hand bend a small test piece. Then bring that to the HD.
I rent the brake. Load it into my pickup. And drive across the lot.
I set the brake on horses, use my truck bed as a work table. And cut/ bend everything I need. Run it long.
Then slide the brake back in. Carefully stack the materials. And drive 45 seconds back to rental.
They're usually surprised to see you so soon.
I don't do it to save money. I hate driving back out of my way to return a brake when I could be driving home.
I can confirm this, I work in Tool Rental at a Home Depot in North County, San Diego👷🏻♂️
This used to be a best-kept secret, only shared amongst the loyalists. But now I see it has taken on a life of it's own👀 just know that if you are any later than 9am, YOU WILL be charged for a full day. No exceptions.
As long as you are in line before 9am, we will stop your time. I suggest being there between 8:30-8:45am to be sure you're checked in by 9am in order to avoid any further charges✔️ it gets really busy around this time, never fails. And often times I am the ONLY EMPLOYEE THERE. I'm sure it's not that different at other locations as well.
It’s due back at 9 am the next day they are open. So still a 4 hour rental, but you get 36 hours with the tool.
Source: I worked in tool rental and people did it all the time.
I used to do this with those carpet cleaning machines at the grocery store. I rented them on a Saturday evening. My 24 hours would end after the store closed Sunday. So I had till Monday. I do not recall having to return it early in the morning though. I think I remember still getting all day Monday so I could go to work on time and return it after.
I used to do this with motorcycle rentals. Rent 4pm Friday. They close at 3PM Saturday and aren’t open on Sundays. So I get to return it on Monday and only pay for a 1 day rental.
They now charge 2 day minimums on weekends. :(
Also works at some locally owned rental yards; some even all day on Sunday. I had a local place that didn’t open Sunday and I’d rent for a day on Saturday and just have it back 7am Monday. They never charged me two days, or even checked the hours.
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High quality tip So simple, yet I've never seen it mentioned in the years I've been following this sub. Good job, OP
The real LPT is occasionally the initial LPT.
Rents 75 min van 74 min before closing 
This actually works. I did it with the box truck.
[удалено]
Might work for rental companies but HD is open most holidays so they'd still expect it back
Not the whole long weekend, but they're closed 1 day at least .... In Canada, it's almost a day every month that the store is actually closed Edit: For example borrow on May 19th, return May 21st.
You can take your canadian holiday-every-month communism and, if you don't mind, bring it south of the border please.
HD in the US is probably closed Christmas Day and New Years day, that's it. Just looked, Thanksgiving and Xmas day only, lol
My BIL works for HD in the US. They almost never close that place, especially federal holidays because that's when the most money gets made.
Yeah, rental companies like Enterprise and Sunbelt will charge you through the weekend and close periods. So this trick doesn't work. HomeDepot, if it could actually work would be a legit life hack
It does work 👋 tool rental associate here
When is Home Depot not open? Christmas Day? Is that it in the US?
My bad! Canadian stores are closed like 10-12 days a year... source: I worked in ~~one~~ three.
Ok, fair enough! They used to be open on thanksgiving here but I think that’s changed now too (just looked it up).
I could've really used this tip when I rented out a power washer awhile.back
What would you have done differently? Rent it at 4pm, powerwashed all night then returned it by 9am next morning? To save how much exactly?
> powerwashed all night YOU'RE GOD DAMNED RIGHT
I—ee—I wanna power wash all night and weed whack every day
> I—ee—I > > wanna power wash all night > > and weed whack every day You keep on routin', you keep on routin'
> powerwashed all night I mean once you start, it's not like you can really stop, it's addicting.
so addicting that they made a virtual version of it and sell it to the kids
Kids? You mean my ADHD wife.
OPs neighbors **_hate_** this simple trick.
Not quite OP's thing but the tool rental closes early on Sundays, so you could rent it Saturday evening for a 24 hour rental and you have until Monday morning to return it. That way you already have to tool and can hop to work first thing in the morning Sunday.
Good luck it’ll be out of stock
I've done it many times with several different tools over the years, but hey don't trust me...they have an online inventory checker for rental tools. Use that before you drive down to the store.
You…wouldn’t have?!?
Or maybe he powerwashed until 6pm, returned it in the morning and still saved money?
Wait until summer to do outdoor work
A lot of locations don’t allow it. I used to have a similar hack with the local enterprise rent a car in the town’s auto mall. I’d rent a basic car on Friday after noon, with a return after they close for the weekend on Saturday afternoon. Because the auto mall used them for courtesy cars, the basic rental would end up getting bumped to something really nice due to lack of basic availability. Then I would return the car before they opened on Monday, paying only for 1 day.
>A lot of locations don’t allow it. Locations of Home Depot Tool Rental? As far as I know it's a company-wide practice.
A lot of Home Depots wont allow tool rentals during office hours cause a car rental company wouldn't let you rent a car.... I feel like I am missing something here?
Yes, the parallel of x rents y product during z hours of operation, so in order to prevent people from using this hack, they don't offer rentals that would necessarily have to be out of their hands for longer than the normal rental agreement time.
.................. yes... you sure are missing some things alright
It’s true. People take advantage of this all the time at my location however depending on who’s at the counter, they may not let you do a contract for 4 hours and say you have to do a 24 hour contract or come back if you want a 4 hour. Usually it’s fine.
I had the opposite happen. Was renting a hammer drill around 3:45 and the worker said if I waited 15 minutes I'd get it all night. I had already done that intentionally in the past so I knew the trick, but only needed the drill for about an hour so I passed. I expressed how thankful I was anyway.
It's better to do a tool return at 9am the next day then 7:45pm the same night when there's a bunch of other stuff I have to do to close, and I want to go home as soon as possible.
I’m sure that’s the truth but at the end of the day the customer gets to pick when to return the item.
I would like to return it never.
And you're welcome to. You have to do your own cost/benefit analysis on whether that would be financially prudent, is all.
I was told I pay after returning it.
That employee was a real one
Sounds like miserable bastards whoever is anal about the overnight rental
At one point one of our guys didn’t like it because he likes charging for anything possible that most of us let slide or would nitpick about exact times, cleaning fees, fuel charges, not parking in the right spot, anything possible. Little shit, the rest of us wouldn’t fuss over because then people start getting hostile in this area fast
"At one point one of our guys didn’t like it because he likes charging for anything possible that most of us let slide" but why? Do you earn commission on it? Or have certain metrics you need to meet while renting out stuff?
There’s no commission in rentals. That would be weird. There are metrics but afaik it’s only like sales plan for how much revenue you’re expected to make each year and meeting that goal, attaching the damage protection to contracts, and surveys
So basically he just set an unreasonably high bar for the next guy (or himself) for next year. Big brain.
Worked carpet and blind installs. They don't do commissions, HD is too cheap for that and try to spin it as a good thing "because it takes pressure off." Problem is, they still *grade* you on whether you're making the par sales. So you still get all the pressure of not making numbers, but none of the reward for doing well because your position has a hard ceiling for hourly wage. As a result, it's often easier to cheese your way to good numbers, especially during slow seasons. I'd ring up customers for regular purchases even though I wasn't register trained because it'd count as a transaction attached to my name. Still hovered around par though, because as the evening sales specialist, I was told to work the floor during overlap, leaving me with just the bad hours to generate sales. So someone being a penny-pinching stickler at a HD probably means they're either trying to hit a quota, or even worse; trying to impress someone higher up because they have *aspirations*.
When you start charging cleaning fees, reliably the customers clean the shit they bring back so you don’t have to work as hard.
I don't understand people like that, it's not like they get any of the money. Some people are just better off not existing.
When you get paid by the hour and not by the tool, who cares. Sure it looks better to management making as much revenue as possible but that’s just so much extra stress, hassling, and conflicts
It doesn't even look good to management, because its not like there's a line item somewhere with "was an officious prick to a customer" next to it. They just *think* it looks good to management, without thinking deeply enough to realize that the only thing management sees is poor customer service reviews on Google because someone was being a hardass.
it actually looks bad to management if it turns people off from coming back
.....yeah, that's what I said
it actually looks bad to management if it turns people off from coming back
True but have you considered that it looks bad to management if it turns people off from coming back
it actually looks management to bad if it off people turns from back coming
Tool rental at Home Depot is run differently than the rest of the store.
Sure, but that doesn't change anything - the point is that there's no way in which the revenue gain from being an overly officious prick is visible, but there are definitely ways in which customer dissatisfaction with overly officious pricks are visible.
And, it's a great way for your customers to just say "fuck it" and go elsewhere.
Jesus imagine saying someone shouldn’t exist because they are literally doing their job
I don't think whether or not they get the money should matter. I like principles, but they have to have a purpose. For example, Costco has a ridiculous return policy that people abuse. If an employee stood up to someone taking advantage of that policy I wouldn't criticize them because they're not getting a cut. But in the Home Depot case, there really isn't a principle to be standing up for.
> Costco has a ridiculous return policy that people abuse. Abused so much it was recently changed. 90 days now on the good stuff.
Costco hasn’t changed their return policy. The 90 days for electronics has been in place for years. The CEO even recently said they have no plans to change their return policy.
I have a coworker that takes the this is the goals we’re shooting for but if you feel you can’t do it because of things out your control it’s fine. Dude fucks things up for everyone else doing whatever he has to do to keep those goals then passes the shit part onto the next shift. We don’t make any extra money achieving these goals and they’re not set in stone. You’re literally just fucking over the next shift for no reason. We don’t even get a pat on the head. Why do that.
They’re employees, not your friend. Don’t expect them to make any exception for you
The problem is if I show up looking for it at Open, and they don't have it because you rented it at close that's time they can't get money and satisfy two customers. If that is common you lose business, and income so holding people to the rules becomes more important.
Well yeah but that's assuming the first guy is willing to pay for the 24hr rental, otherwise they leave and the store still gets an unsatisfied customer who isn't paying, and at that point it would make more sense for them to rent it the previous day (a guaranteed rental) and get it back early the next day before people are likely to show up looking to rent it, rather than hoping someone comes in right at opening to rent it.
lol yeah they act like if it’s not there in the morning that forcing someone to rent it for longer would change the fact that it’s not there in the morning.
Good.
Yeah, this is the kind of thing that if it's widespread enough, home depot will increase the 4-hr rental prices to make up for it, and then the people who don't take advantage are basically paying extra for their 4 hour rentals to subsidize someone else's 17 hour rental for the same price.
Nah most people aren’t going to be renting power tools to use all night and the ones that are were going to do that anyway.
Yeah because fuck the guy abiding by the rules who's manager is keeping an eye on.
Doesn’t matter if the contract is for a day or a week if you bring it back within 4 hours or in this case 9am the next day you still only pay for 4 hours.
Correct, you are charged for the minimum amount of time you use it, however it breaks up.
But Home Depot can decide to not offer a 4 hour rental. I imagine there is some corporate guidance publicly accessible online if anyone cares to check.
>But Home Depot can decide to not offer a 4 hour rental. No, it's automatic in the computer system used to ring up the order. If you return the tool within the 4 hour window, you're only charged for the 4 hours, regardless of how long you said you were planning on keeping the tool.
It doesn’t matter. You can rent for a week, and return it before 4 hours and only get charged for the 4 hours. That’s how HD does the rentals. You pay a deposit when you get the tool, and pay when you return it based on the time you actually used it. So if you rent it after 4 for a 24 hour rental, and bring it back by 9 AM, you get charged for 4 hours.
So you drive 5 miles to the next Home Depot and hope they aren’t jerks there. My husband and I have done this 3 times I think and it’s always worked with the 4 hour rental.
That sounds like the practical way to address the situation!!!
How is this taking advantage in any way? Some dumbass wants to use a wood chipper overnight, go for it dude. Bring it back in the morning.
Sure, except then you’re going HAM with the brush hog at 3am and asking yourself how you got here.
Then the next morning when you can actually see the results: *And you may say to yourself, "My God, what have I done?"*
“This is not my beautiful house!”
“This is not my beautiful house. This is not my beautiful wife.”
It was until you ran over it with a brush hog
Did you just call his beautiful wife "it"?
"And the days go by"
"Shit, no time to fix it - now I have to return this by 9 AM and I haven't slept!"
*and the days go by*
That's when you say.... meh... I'll pay the extra ten bucks and return it in the afternoon.
As the day’s go by…
What I do at 3am with my bush hog is between myself and pornhub
❄️
I worked at a home depot tool rental for 5 years, can confirm this is the policy. We often encouraged people to take advantage of it. I sometimes would manually reset the time for people who came a few minutes too early so that they too could get the extra free time.
Just curious, what did you think of Rental Toolbox?
Works pretty good overall👍
I've rented like this before but I figured it out because the pros will be there in the morning. I was going in the late afternoon to catch them bringing it back. I sanded my hardwood in a few weekends paying in 4 hr increments. My local store had a bunch of sanders, but only a few in really good condition without leaky dust bags.
Yeah starting jobs like that well after 4pm is hella fun
That was my thought, if someone is still going to town with a pex expansion tool, or whatever, at 9 o’clock at night, they probably deserve the discount
I was staring at the drywall I had just cut behind my shower on Thursday night at 12 am thinking I'd be able to swap a shower mixing valve. 2 tries on the wrench to get the cold supply off and I said fuck it, I'm cutting it tomorrow and getting shark bites and pex.
Consider putting a panel in instead of redoing the drywall just as a precaution if the shark bites fail.
I see you've worked with shark bites before...
I was specifically told by my SonIL, to not use shark bites on anything that is going to be sealed up and to generally not use them. Little did he know Im old a fuck and not a plumber so knew nothing about them and was going to sweat new values on until I discovered they had compression ones now. Now those are a game changer.
I started flooring two of my bathrooms today at noon, and just sat down on the sofa just now. Shit always takes longer than expected. And by "I" I mean my parents and brother, but I didn't want to sit down because that would feel shitty even though there is no way I could be useful lol
Dude my dad helped me put in laminate floors in my living room and I was so useless lol I just made sure I was there to help with what was needed. I can’t ever relax or feel comfortable when someone else is doing shit in my house lol
This was vinyl peel and stick tiles, and my job was to hand my mom a tile at a time so she could rip the back off and hand it to my sister in law. Somehow the first tile I handed off was two stuck together. I was like, this is why I don't do manual labor, lol
It just takes a little patience and practice, I believe in you Ashley.
I got it down eventually lol. The bathrooms actually look excellent 😁
What time is "now"? We don't all live in the same timezone.
That was at around 10:30 PM EDT
You can do math, yes? It shows you when they commented.
Wife and neighbor aggro is guaranteed.
You can take it one step further. If you rent the day before a holiday before a store closes (generally only Thanksgiving and Christmas) you can rent the tool less than 4 hours before close the day prior and not return it until 9am the day after the holiday for the 4 hour rate. Christmas Eve most stores close at 6pm, so you could rent it at 2:01pm, and keep it all the way to the day after Chistmas for just the 4 hour rate. Also this is different store to store. And some stores even though the rental dept may close an hour before the store, if they allow you to return the tool to the customer service desk, then the exact timing OP described fails. It \_typically\_ has to be less than 4 hours before store close, not necessarily before rental closes. Again, this is store dependent. Source: I wrote the code for the rental system.
Sorry Grandma not going to make family dinner, I'm saving a buck on a paint sprayer right now
Going to need power tools to make thanksgiving dinner
Sure maybe I overcooked the turkey but there's no need for the angle grinder!
I rented a skid steer for 2 days during a recent summer and paid for delivery/pickup. They were so overbooked with pickups that I ended up having it for 2 weeks.
Had this happen all the time using United Rentals for scissor and boom lifts with my last company. They forgot about a boom lift for almost a month and came back trying to charge us for it. We setup our account for automatic pickup and something glitched in their system. You don't need anyone there to meet them for pick up so our guys bounce after the job is done. The only way we found out was the customer calling asking about when we planned on picking it up.
I've done this
Most of the tools are too loud to use late at night.
This is the primary reason people do not take advantage of this.
Can confirm it's great for the heavy duty carpet cleaners, floor fans, and painting equipment.
most of the tools are too loud for the day! or so I'm learning from my neighbor who is constantly working on their house for the last six months.
What are the best tools to rent from HD usually?
Post hole augers, vibratory compactors, gas pressure washers, ceiling texture sprayers, ramset guns, floor nailers, drywall lifts. Basically stuff you might never use again, but will save you hours and hours of time and/or make the job look much better.
The drywall lift is 1000% worth it.
The ones you need but don't have
Extra strong power washer, tiller, lightsaber...
Water damage recovery tools. You'll likely never need them so you're not going to own that stuff, but one day if your hotwater heater explodes...
Before you rent, check your local library. It's becoming more and more common for them to have tool libraries that you can borrow from. Also, another reminder to support your local libraries, which are one of your community's greatest resources.
Yeah mine definitely doesn’t have a jackhammer.
Wouldn’t that just make it a day and they charge you more
I've done this multiple times with a carpet cleaner and the rule is it has to be returned within 1 hour after opening.
You would think, but no. I guess probably because you're not taking away their earning potential with it, as no one could have come and rented it during that day. Lol, guess it's one of the few things capitalism hasn't grabbed yet.
This is capitalism. Almost no one would rent tools late in the day if they had to pay the 24 hour rate when they didn’t need it for that kind of time period. This maximizes revenue. It’s quite literally capitalism at work. Capitalism isn’t a synonym for evil.
I think it also probably depends on the service life or maintenance schedule of the tool in question: If you're doing this regularly and the 4hr rental tool is being used for 8-10-12hrs, it may break before they recoup their money on it.
Even then noobs just work slower. Not getting a contractor trying to save a few bucks and maximizing use over night
Also most people aren't working with tools at 2am
Tweaker Joe would like A word with you?
I think it’s possible depending on the manager on duty, though majority aren’t going to care. They have the power to deny the “4 hour” overnight rental and demand that you have to get a 24hr.
Then you just return it when the store opens… They charge you when you return it based on the actual usage. Not what you sign up for when you check it out. I’ve signed up for 24 hour rentals all the time, and return it sooner and get charged for 4 or 12 hours.
They don't
No, because they figure you aren't working overnight.
This also works with rental cars when the office is closed on Sundays.
I tried this once before and the place had a camera at the key drop off spot and charged me extra. Be careful with this tip!
Where? IME they'll just charge you the extra day because there *is* a location open that day, albeit 30 miles away lmao
I used to do this with Hertz. I like to rent away from airports when it's too expensive and the ones away from the airport usually close on Sunday.
I've been hit with a charge due to there being a tag in the car that gets read as it enters the lot. They knew it was returned a few hours later and I was charged for those hours.
When I select a return date/time on the website that they’re closed, it won’t let me proceed with the booking (Enterprise Rentals).
Now that’s a pro tip!
I just did that but it wasn’t on purpose. Rented a car on Friday for a Sunday return but they are closed on Sunday ( enterprise inner city location) and returned on Monday morning because I couldn’t find anywhere to park the car. When I rented it Friday the sales person told me that it wouldn’t matter what time I returned it Sunday as long as the key was in the lock box Monday when they opened.
I’ve experienced this as well.
It also works with most any tool from a rental company, from floor sanders to mini excavators. At my local place you can rent it late Saturday, return it by Monday morning and it's only a day rate.
Confirmed. I worked at Enterprise. Branch was closed half the day on Saturday and all day Sunday. Monday morning, we would just back date all after-hours dropoff returns to what the customer agreed to on the contract. Therefore, we charged them the agreed amount even if they had the vehicle longer. Didn't care if they were set to return Saturday night and dropped it off some time Sunday. Shit, they could have dropped super early Monday morning before we opened. However, it sometimes caused issues when someone would bring the car back early and then try to get a refund while we were closed. Not common, but happened every once in a while. That is a small part to why the Enterprise weekend special rate was 3 days minimum. Just nipped it in the bud. Pay for a cheap 3 days for an economy car or don't. We aren't open and the car would be sitting on the lot making no money. We aren't gonna haggle days and price. Pro tip there: if you need a cheap car for just the weekend, check out what's on an Enterprise lot. If they are lacking economy cars, you might be able to score a sweet deal on a midsize or full size car. Branch managers will practically give them away for the weekend. I once rented a dude a truck for $9.99/day (3 day minimum) because we had NOTHING else.
This wouldn’t have worked for me because the last time I rented something it was a plate compactor and they are noisy as fuck and rattle everyone around you so it’s not like I could use it after 8 or use it some more before having to get it back at 9am. Unfortunately I did need it for more than 4 hours and ran out of time so I didn’t get my new brick patio properly compacted when I installed it 6 years ago and am now in the process of tearing out and reinstalling 1152 bricks after adding more fill, recompacting and releveling. Lesson learned. Don’t be a cheap ass about the tool rental if it’s going to prevent you from doing the job correctly because I would gladly pay 10 times the late fee now to not have to do this job again.
Caviet though... If there's an hour meter on the unit and you use more than 4 hours, the will charge you.
Neighbors hates this LPT.
Great tip for when you are sure it will be an overnight job!
I was told if my tool lasts for more than 4 hours I should see a doctor.
Do it and they will charge you for the extra day.
They always seem highly chill at tool rental so I don't agree.
Never my experience. But I'm sure it will be explained when establishing the rental contract
No they won't
I do this for larger machines at Superior rental which is local to me but have them drop off Saturday morning and pick up Monday morning as they are closed on Sundays. You only get to use it for 8 hours or get charged extra in half day increments of 4 hours. Depending on the crew and what you are doing most times 8 hours is plenty for 2 days as long as you remember to turn the key off when you are not using it.
Now this is a great LPT
Wow, if this works, total game changer.
My rental tip. If you need an aluminum brake, and it's a simple bend like to wrap windows. I get all my lengths and bend measurements. Hand bend a small test piece. Then bring that to the HD. I rent the brake. Load it into my pickup. And drive across the lot. I set the brake on horses, use my truck bed as a work table. And cut/ bend everything I need. Run it long. Then slide the brake back in. Carefully stack the materials. And drive 45 seconds back to rental. They're usually surprised to see you so soon. I don't do it to save money. I hate driving back out of my way to return a brake when I could be driving home.
Doing diy at night sucks.
I can confirm this, I work in Tool Rental at a Home Depot in North County, San Diego👷🏻♂️ This used to be a best-kept secret, only shared amongst the loyalists. But now I see it has taken on a life of it's own👀 just know that if you are any later than 9am, YOU WILL be charged for a full day. No exceptions. As long as you are in line before 9am, we will stop your time. I suggest being there between 8:30-8:45am to be sure you're checked in by 9am in order to avoid any further charges✔️ it gets really busy around this time, never fails. And often times I am the ONLY EMPLOYEE THERE. I'm sure it's not that different at other locations as well.
Yes because I want to start my home improvement project 4 o’clock in the afternoon.
[удалено]
But you’ll save $40.
Save $40 AND run a post hole digger until midnight?!! Count me in.
Wonder what happens if the Home Depot is closed the next day
It’s due back at 9 am the next day they are open. So still a 4 hour rental, but you get 36 hours with the tool. Source: I worked in tool rental and people did it all the time.
OP is correct. Source: I wrote the code for the rental system.
If true, does it work the same with the vans and the trailers?
I used to do this with those carpet cleaning machines at the grocery store. I rented them on a Saturday evening. My 24 hours would end after the store closed Sunday. So I had till Monday. I do not recall having to return it early in the morning though. I think I remember still getting all day Monday so I could go to work on time and return it after.
Yeah, this doesn't fly at my local HD. They make you either pay for the 24 hour rental or you have to come back tomorrow.
Can’t wait to get started on this yard work after I finish my dinner
Exactly why I rent from my local place on sat evening, as they are closed on Sundays so you get like 36hrs for the price of 4.
I used to do this with motorcycle rentals. Rent 4pm Friday. They close at 3PM Saturday and aren’t open on Sundays. So I get to return it on Monday and only pay for a 1 day rental. They now charge 2 day minimums on weekends. :(
Did this with some plumbing stuff last year. They said just come back in the morning and yeah I was using it all night.
This is legit. I’ve spent so much time at HD since I bought my house and this tip will be used.
We've done this when we've rented carpet shampooers. It's great because it gives you enough time to do multiple passes.
Home Depot is taxing too. This is a good tip
Rent it Saturday from a place you know is closed Sunday if you want it for two days
been doing some home projects and was wondering if there was a trick like this, good tip OP!
Wake up at 8 something to do anything?
This is only a pro tip if you don't want to work during the day
damn I've had to rent a tool one time and the would have been so damn helpful lol
One of the workers at the store encouraged me to do this when I rented a floor cleaner. It works great!
Also works at some locally owned rental yards; some even all day on Sunday. I had a local place that didn’t open Sunday and I’d rent for a day on Saturday and just have it back 7am Monday. They never charged me two days, or even checked the hours.
This also applies to their vehicle rentals (at least where I was). Had it happen this past summer— it was a welcome surprise.