Bill Dalton: Save big money
"They say the older you get, the more you become like your parents," Bill Dalton writes.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The views and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not of Ottawa News Network.
They say the older you get, the more you become like your parents.
As I'm nearing 75, I’ve finally become like my father — except for the dead part. (I’ll be joining you soon, Dad, buried to your right, or left, depending on where one stands.)
The running joke in our family was that my father lived at Menards. I wouldn’t be surprised that, after he passed, they laid off a few employees. (More about them later.)
No, my father wasn’t homeless. But we suspected he slept on the lower shelf near the power tools so he would be the first customer in the morning.
If you’ve heard their slogan — “Save Big Money at Menards” — you know that their song sticks in your head like an earworm even Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could appreciate.
While you’re shopping, the jingle blares periodically from overhead speakers, a Hare Krishna-like chant that makes saving big money seem almost spiritual.
Except the mantra should really be “Spend Big Money at Menards.” Not that their prices aren’t competitive. But because it's stocked with so much stuff that you want to buy everything in sight, kind of like a Costco.
There are so many building supplies you could construct a tiny house inside Menards and live without paying property taxes, counted by Census takers or needing to vote. They have furniture, clothing, groceries, and even books, and not just about how to plumb a house.
For a long time, I wondered why it was called Menards and not Womenards. Well, it has nothing to do with gender bias. Like many businesses, it’s named after the guy who created it, John Menard Jr.
He started a business in 1958 to help pay for college. Now he owns more than 340 Menards in 15 states, including Michigan. It’s the all-American success story with sales totaling more than $13 billion back in 2022.
And here’s the sweet part — it’s privately owned. Which makes the Menard family of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, very, very rich.
Nothing wrong with being billionaires. Hard work deserves to be rewarded.
But so do hard workers. Because the other thing you’ll notice about Menards is that their employees are usually pleasant and helpful.
Like many companies, however, Menards has not been without controversy. They’ve had trouble with environmental regulations, according to Milwaukee Magazine, which also reported Menards was strongly anti-union — to the point it wouldn’t hire anyone who ever worked for a union shop.
Wikipedia reports that managers faced pay cuts if their store became unionized and had to pay fines of $100 per minute for infractions such as opening late. Michigan’s attorney general also alleged price gouging on face masks and bleach during the CCOVID-19 pandemic.
To their credit, and probably thanks to tax write-offs, the Menards have contributed millions to charities, hospitals, and a drug enforcement policy center at The (Dreaded) Ohio State University.
As you might have guessed, being billionaires, they’ve supported conservative causes such as the Koch brothers and even rubbed elbows with Donald Trump.
Nothing wrong with that. This is still a free country — at least until Trump takes over the electoral process.
Which brings me back to my father and our love affair with Menards. We always believed that where you spend your money is your business.
But lately I’ve observed that mixing politics with business usually results in bad politics that aren’t that good for business. Companies such as Target, The Home Depot, Anthropic and the My Pillow guy are learning that lesson the hard way.
Hopefully, so will Menards — before I die and save really big money.
— Bill Dalton is a former reporter and editor for The Kansas City Star and worked at several Michigan newspapers. He spends summers on the family farm near Fennville. His new novel, “The Bank Game” — a trashy crime thriller — is available from Amazon.
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