New changes to Home Depot benefits package for 2005

[jmowreader]

I've been going through this little book we get every year and so far see three changes:

1. The providers' network for our health insurance is a lot bigger than it was last year--which is proforma; pretty much all you need do to get the doctor you like added to our network is have him fill out a form, so every year the network is bigger.

2. The prescription copay is now lower.

3. All benefits have now been extended to same-sex domestic partners.

Unfortunately, Bob Nardelli is still a Bush Ranger.

[yardwork]

1. Well, at least the benefits appear to have improved!

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

2. your co-pay went DOWN?

holy crap, mine has shot up from 5bucks two years ago to 20 next year

[reprehensor]

3. Still ain't shoppin' there.

[Safi]

4. Heya, how much do you pay a month for health care?

Curious, because I work for your biggest competitor.

-Safi

[jmowreader]

5. I pay $115/month; it varies depending on who you are.

I only have coverage on myself, because my wife pays for her own coverage. (She works in the garden center of the same HD I work at.) And they're just makin' money hand over fist on me, 'cause I don't get sick.

Do you work for Lowe's or Wal-Mart?

At one of our store meetings, the store manager asked us "who's our biggest competitor?" Naturally, everyone thought it was Lowe's--which makes sense, because we're both in the same market. "They asked us the same thing at the annual management retreat and we all answered the way you did. We're all wrong--our biggest competitor is Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is currently the largest retailer of paint, light bulbs and ceiling fans in the United States. And! They're attempting to open a lumberyard in at least some of their stores. This will fuck with the Wal-Mart way of doing business, because lumber hasn't changed in the last 50 years and they can't lower the price on it every year like everything else Wal-Mart sells is expected to do. I think they'll fail.