So, defense contractors cannot make any money unless Americans use their weapons. If foreign countries use their weapons no money is to be made. Got it.
Unless that war torn country is anywhere in South Asia, the Middle East, or Central America, or anywhere else that the US has played an active part in destabilizing.
If I were to dismiss all rational thought, ignored everything I know about foreign affairs, and followed the standard american 3rd grade mindset that they try to instill in me, maybe.
But that’s not me.
I feel bad saying this because I do feel really bad for the troops but a parking spot is the most American honor I can possibly imagine and I don't mean this as a compliment
Probably because the parking spot is completely unusable, so it is strictly symbolic. A giant corporation that could materially benefit the people it claims to be honoring instead does something that makes things harder for everyone
I love that. I'd love it more if they paid holiday pay while they're piping all that patriotic music into the stores. I'd also like them to accept more than a DD-214 to get the discount. One elderly woman complained that the card she uses gets her military benefits everywhere but Lowe's.
Home Depot makes it much harder to use the veteran’s discount though. They make you present your documents every time you go to the store, and the staff isn’t always trained on what they can accept or not. You show your DD214 or DOD ID at Lowe’s once and they put it in your customer profile.
That's a change from when I worked there, then. They had to show it every time. If they set it up like they did for tax exemption, there wouldn't be that hassle.
Yeah, I’ve been very satisfied with it since I added my veteran status about 4-5 years ago. Also, they’re requiring you have an account to use the self-checkout now (like Giant Eagle) and when I go to the app I see it on my profile, and I can see the military discount once I add things to my shopping cart. At this point I don’t even need to verbally tell them I’m a veteran, I just have to check out on my phone, or scan the member QR code in store and it just applies.
Blame the one guy who used to carry a shitty, blurry photocopy of his discharge paperwork from an Army desk job into your local stores (probably still does) and angrily demand the discount even when faced with proof that the policy was not to give one except to active service members outside of the holidays and even then that his paperwork as presented wouldn't get him a discount at all, because it didn't follow the fairly simple rules of what would be accepted. Got so bad I used to tell him "no" before I even started scanning, in case he stormed out after calling me a liberal commie idiot.
He's ruining it for everyone.
You are correct - it is Active Duty, Veterans (honorable discharge only, with veteran ID card or VA health card, or Veteran status on driver's license), and dependents and spouses with appropriate ID. On holidays it's "anybody who says they're related to the military no matter what because it's not worth the fight".
The instructions for the cashiers when I worked there said not to accept a DD-214, even though the new (as of 2022) app-enabled discount process will accept one. We were not to take any other form of ID not listed above, and were to verify the IDs carefully. If the military ID didn't have a photo, we needed a 2nd form of ID with a photo and the same name on it.
Generally the only people who ever made a fuss about this process were the guys who came in wearing full camo from the surplus store, with no ID and a shitty attitude - so you'll forgive me if I'm a little salty about it and not getting precise with the details. I got more shit from those assholes and the fucking "small business owners" who tried to scam me on a regular basis than anybody deserves. I'm sorry for the actual military members who try to get this discount and have to jump through a million hoops.
Most cashiers never bothered trying to enforce the policy in the first place, because letting people abuse it was easier than trying to save the company $10, until management started breathing down your neck about it and threatening write-ups for not following the policy at least.
Agree about the camo wearing wannabes. I was a cashier at the lumber end, and when I was alone at night, I'd give the discount for a guy wearing an olive drab shirt if he seemed agitated after the first rejection. I was not going to die on that hill.
My first point was valid, though - they'd pipe in marching band music all day, rake in the cash, and not pay one cent extra to employees.
This has the same feeling as those news stories that go "HEARTWARMING: The people of this small town all chipped in and bought this 96-year old woman a new pair of shoes so she can continue walking 5 miles each way to her night shift cashier job"
You sound like a guy who supports the troops but then gets mad at the fourth of July when your neighbor veterans ask you to not fire fireworks at their houses and you go , "haha triggered lib!"
Am vet: IMO just being good to all people is the same level of treatment many vets expect on the daily. Anything above (pleasant call out, extra benefits, etc) is icing on the cake. But different strokes for different folks.
Veterans Day is nice and many folks do take advantage of the extra recognition. But for me, it's taking the time and reconciling, in good and bad lights, that a different but intertwined self is not longer connected to that mission and comararderie. Having all the fan fare tends to promote that mood of reconciliation, like when I go to a cathedral to seek god even though I'm an atheist.
Respect.. year round.
Honor.. today is for the fallen, not vets (six year vet here).
Lowe’s got it right, here. It’s a good reminder of the purpose of this federal holiday meant to get people to stop and think about why it’s a holiday. A bit tacky but if it gets people talking then it accomplished it’s purpose.
Lowe's and Home Depot are one of the few companies I know that actually gives a discount to veterans. They also always have reserved spots for veterans. I don't know what more you can expect a company to do to honor vets. I'm sure you've done a lot for veterans.
It's just typical out of touch Reddit nonsense that none of these people would ever dare to spout in public.
Like, it's a parking spot my dudes. Can we all just chill out and not act like weirdos when Lowes makes a simple gesture towards dead veterans?
Vail gives such massive discounts it borders on the absurd. A few hundred dollars for my retired reserve friend's entire family at any North American resort. That would normally cost thousands. The discount is on the order of 80-90%.
To be fair, it's not like they're employing any deceased veterans, as far as we know. Maybe selling a few of them in the fertilizer isle I suppose.
Also, we're late stage capitalism baby. There are no holidays, there is no respect, there are only commercial opportunities.
Used to work with a former Home Depot manager and I remember him telling me how Easter and Memorial Day weekends are two of the craziest periods as all the suburbanites come in to get flowers and landscaping materials. They’d do like $50k-100k just in that department each day of the holiday weekend.
As a former Home Depot garden cashier... not only were those two of the busiest weekends of the season they were also most likely to bring in the pissiest customers, families with the worst-behaved kids, and contractors who would literally stuff small high-dollar tools between mulch bags and try to sneak them past the cashiers without paying. I took great pleasure in finding those 'forgotten' items, especially when there were seven people in line behind the dude and they could all see why he was holding up the line.
I wonder if this is common outside of the Northeast. Here, Easter coincides with Spring (and spring flower planting); Memorial Day coincides with garden planting (and official start of summer).
People fought and died so they could be memorialized by someone rolling out five feet of artificial grass and a tacky little sign onto a single parking spot in a strip mall. Can't get more American than that!
No one who actually served, honorably, would be remotely bothered by parking further away for one weekend for the sake of that display. And if they were, they’ve got serious issues.
This parking space memorial is emblematic of the way this whole country treats veterans. It's a tacky, masturbatory display that is deserving of mockery. I hate the term "virtue signaling" because it's often mud slinging from conservatives who don't think people can earnest hold opinions like "treat people different from you with respect." But this parking space memorial is absolutely virtue signaling.
OP, you had a small little nice thing today that gave you perspective and a moment of appreciation. Sorry it wasn’t perfect enough for the Reddit masses, but not all of us here were expecting Lowe’s to solve veteran affairs. I appreciated your post.
Every Lowe’s seems to have this. I know the one in Heidelberg/Carnegie does. The one thing I found annoying was that they used one of the parking spots marked for veterans to do it at the Heidelberg one. I get the symbolism, but it might have been better to take over a different parking spot for a weekend when the point of Memorial Day is to honor our troops.
Except it denies a living veteran the spot designated for them. It's honoring the deceased by slighting the living veterans. It doesn't hit right, does it?
Why would they use the veterans parking for that though? One of the perks of being a vet was the good parking spot. Now that is taken. They could have just used another spot for this display.
Idk why people are so butthurt about this. It's there for 1 day and only taking up 1 spot. Who is this hurting? Sure, now a living vet can't park there today; but today is not about the living. I think it's a nice, simple gesture and nothing more. I don't see virtue signalling; I see, "Today is Memorial Day; we decorated a parking spot." Calm down, either appreciate the nice gesture or ignore it. It's not affecting your life whatsoever.
hi, plz explain how this holiday has anything to do with parking spaces.
These memorials could be placed literally anywhere else at the business.
"It's handicapped awareness day! shut down all the handicapped parking spots and fill them with potted plants!"
They are honoring our dead today by having a Memorial Day Sale! That's what this is about. People are going to Lowe's today on Memorial Day to take advantage of a sale. Go to a cemetery or a battlefield, go check out Fort Necessity, spend time with a veteran. Is this how the fallen want to be honored, visiting a memorial set up in a Lowe's parking lot?
For anyone who thinks otherwise this day is also about our Veterans, these are the men a woman they served with.
Lowe's has been slashing what is actually covered by their veteran's discount program for years. Kind of like the rest of America, they love to make cheap gestures but fall short where it actually matters: customers' wallets.
Seems pretty fucking bizarre to stick this is the veteran parking spot so the living veterans can't park there now and they're the only people it's inconveniencing. Yo ucoled brainstorm a much better gesture in 30 minutes lol.
This is very nice to see. It makes me think of my Grandpa (lifelong Pittsburgher) who was a WWII vet and handyman after he retired from being a mechanic. When he no longer felt comfortable driving, I would take us to Lowe's every weekend so he could restock his shed with tinkering supplies. We would drive thru McDonald's to get coffee, drink it in the Lowe's parking lot, and then shop for a long time since he looked at everything!
Sometimes I would drive a carload full of him and his remaining "army buddies" to Lowe's, too. It was always a fun time, they would sing polkas the whole way there and back. Sometimes they'd sing army songs. "The coffee in army, they say it's mighty fine...!" It became a weekly reunion for them. But, times goes on. We started losing his friends one by one until he was oddly the last one left. He was always a social, good spirits, strong type of guy...so seeing him lose his friends was as hard as seeing him lose his independence and health. He said longevity was a doubled edge sword. You see a lot, but you lose a lot.
At one point on a cold December day, I noticed him really struggling so I asked him if he needed help putting his coat on and he half sadly laughed and said "I always need help these days!" As his caregiver, I was aware of his declining health but it hit me hard during that moment that he was truly fading away and it would be the end of an era once he departed. That cold day in December was our last trip to Lowe's. He died about two months later, peacefully in his sleep, in his 90s.
Seeing this makeshift memorial in the parking lot makes me miss him and all of his friends, and I'm thankful for the time we spent together. They were a tough, patriotic bunch. It might be a small gesture to some, but it gives me all of the feels on Memorial Day. Miss you Grandpa! Thank you and all your friends for everything that you did and all of those fun times!
Why would they use the veterans parking for that though? One of the perks of being a vet was the good parking spot. Now that is taken. They could have just used another spot for this display.
Kind of a dick move if a vet is complaining that they need to walk a few extra yards because the fallen are being remembered.
I don’t think any worth while vet is complaining about the spot. Disabled vets are still disabled and probably use the handicap spot anyway. An able embodied vet complaining about this is flat wrong. Yes, I am a vet.
Also vet, completely agree. I'm trying to do something similar at work (POW/MIA table) for the interest of vets and general response has been it would be a worthy and appreciated effort.
Memorial Day is a out honoring those who have lost their lives while serving. Veterans Day is for veterans. I think most veterans are ok with losing a parking spot for a day to honor those that they fought with and lost
I can almost understand wanting to 'har har' at 'dum parking spot so amurica so stupid' but honestly it gives off the fact that you're disconnected from the reality of what it signifies.
Its there so you see it and think about who could have been in the spot, but cant because they fucking died protecting american values. To openly mock that says you dont give a shit about the people who died or those values they stood for.
Youre allowed to think that, but why not show a modicum of decency about on the legally set day to respect it. Please just enjoy your day off.
I'm a vet and I've lost a classmate to an IED, another classmate to an accident, and 2 friends to suicide. This parking space memorial is stupid and deserves to be mocked.
Okay maybe you got me there but consider this:
Yeah, we can scoff, roll our eyes and say 'how stupid and insignificant of a gesture compared to the monetary potential this mega corporation has to show they care.' At the end of the day its still the everyday employee who set this up, whom despite probably being underpaid, did what they could with an intention to show support. Why laugh that off?
Much in the same way the Holiday in itself is about honoring those individuals who served for the reasons they served, rather than to glorify our Military Industrial Complex / American War Machine. I think people tend to hyper-fixate on the latter, and end up missing the point, which is why they laugh at a small Parking Lot displays at retail giants.
Maybe I'm too "glass half full" about it. I'm not a vet, but my father was KIA in Iraq. So I at least appreciate these acknowledgments.
I'm not anti memorial if they'd do something meaningful. Doesn't have to be extravagant, but the memorialized "veterans only" parking spot just rubs me the wrong way. For starters, it's a parking spot. It's not even in a place others will naturally see it. It just seems like the laziest, low effort attempt to acknowledge it. It'd honestly be better to do nothing than to do this, as far as I'm concerned. It's basically insulting. That's why I feel the way I do about it.
So the veterans fought and died for less parking spots? What is the point of this? I can’t imagine who this benefits. This post is sarcastic right?
Edit: can the next person who downvotes me please explain why? I legitimately have no clue why this is a good thing and why I would be downvoted for thinking otherwise. I mean it’s a parking spot *for veterans*! So why tf would you block it on Memorial Day???
Yes I understand memorials. So why didn’t they put it in the parking spot not reserved for veterans? Please do explain how inconveniencing current veterans is better.
I suppose they could have done that, sure. Perhaps as a counter point, the purpose of using this spot is to symbolically help all that pass to conceptualize the sacrifice of the vet who cannot park there because they did not return.
My father is a vet. Where I live they won’t give it unless you register as a vet on Lowe’s website and get a scan tag in the mail. Stared just taking him to Home Depot if it says it on your license they give the discount.
For a long time, Home Depot didn’t give a discount outside of Memorial Day or Veterans Day, unless you served 20+ years and were officially retired and/or had a service related disability. Some employees enforced this while others didn’t give a shit.
Lowe’s always gave a discount and only recently required that you register (you only need to have a phone number in the system unless that recently changed).
Home Depot recently (within the last few years) opened it up to all vets, but I’m required to use a smart phone app.
So, both currently have a similar policy and if there are work arounds then that’s up to an employee’s discretion and not a corporate policy.
The only reason I’d put HD above Lowes at the moment is because Lowes removes the discount on some (all?) sale and clearance items while HD doesn’t currently play that game.
Where I live, Lowe’s has gotten super strict on it. They told him he would have to register through their website for veterans. He’s not super computer handy and I just was a little pissed off about the policy change so we just started going to Home Depot. They have so far not asked us anything about an app he just mentions he’s a vet and shows him his drivers license.
Could just be a bad store. They \*should\* be able to register him at the service desk too. If HD has what he needs then no rush but if he ever does need something at Lowes don't hesitate to take it to the management level. I know it feels awkward demanding a discount (for me at least) but the store really needs to be on top of their own policies so I think it's worth pushing back on a bit (if not for my own sake, hopefully for the sake of someone like your father who comes along later).
Honor deceased vets by not creating more of them
Truth
Yes but then how will defense contractors make money?!
Won’t someone think of the Northrop Grumman children?!?!
Their parents certainly don't. heh
Well deserved upvote
Defense contractors have generally been doing quite well recently with no significant overseas combat operations.
What about by proxy though?
Well those aren’t Americans…………………. ……………………… ……………… …
So, defense contractors cannot make any money unless Americans use their weapons. If foreign countries use their weapons no money is to be made. Got it.
Amen 🙏🏼
As an Iraq and Afghanistan Army combat vet, I agree with this 100%.
This.
I hear you… but how about a 10% discount?
...they *do* give veterans and military 10% discount.
Haha, yea.
Oh so you're saying you antisemitic! (Obv joking but I hate how much this is the discourse now)
I’ll try not to
Truth
And vote for politicians that think our military are heroes and not suckers.
Go live in a war torn country for a day and I’m sure you’ll be glad we have the worlds strongest army
Unless that war torn country is anywhere in South Asia, the Middle East, or Central America, or anywhere else that the US has played an active part in destabilizing.
If I were to dismiss all rational thought, ignored everything I know about foreign affairs, and followed the standard american 3rd grade mindset that they try to instill in me, maybe. But that’s not me.
Deep
we get it dude you love the military
If I die in the culture wars, do this for me at an old pat catan’s site with glitter and decorative branches 🫡
I shall oversee the Changing of the Eucalyptus in your honor
My Pat Catan is now a GetGo. Like paving over part of Gettysburg.
This resonates so deeply lol
me n my wife miss Patty C’s so much
I feel bad saying this because I do feel really bad for the troops but a parking spot is the most American honor I can possibly imagine and I don't mean this as a compliment
Probably because the parking spot is completely unusable, so it is strictly symbolic. A giant corporation that could materially benefit the people it claims to be honoring instead does something that makes things harder for everyone
Dont feel bad about it. This post is completely out of touch.
Do what you can with what you got. I’m happy to see this. I wish Pittsburgh people didn’t react so nasty. But here we are
\*James Howard Kunstler facepalms\*
I love that. I'd love it more if they paid holiday pay while they're piping all that patriotic music into the stores. I'd also like them to accept more than a DD-214 to get the discount. One elderly woman complained that the card she uses gets her military benefits everywhere but Lowe's.
Home Depot makes it much harder to use the veteran’s discount though. They make you present your documents every time you go to the store, and the staff isn’t always trained on what they can accept or not. You show your DD214 or DOD ID at Lowe’s once and they put it in your customer profile.
That's a change from when I worked there, then. They had to show it every time. If they set it up like they did for tax exemption, there wouldn't be that hassle.
Yeah, I’ve been very satisfied with it since I added my veteran status about 4-5 years ago. Also, they’re requiring you have an account to use the self-checkout now (like Giant Eagle) and when I go to the app I see it on my profile, and I can see the military discount once I add things to my shopping cart. At this point I don’t even need to verbally tell them I’m a veteran, I just have to check out on my phone, or scan the member QR code in store and it just applies.
Cant believe Lowes gave all their employees holiday pay to honor fallen veterans. O wait they didnt do that, just this parking spot
It's still a federal holiday. They consider Memorial Day their black Friday. I don't patronize any business on holidays because they should be closed.
Blame the one guy who used to carry a shitty, blurry photocopy of his discharge paperwork from an Army desk job into your local stores (probably still does) and angrily demand the discount even when faced with proof that the policy was not to give one except to active service members outside of the holidays and even then that his paperwork as presented wouldn't get him a discount at all, because it didn't follow the fairly simple rules of what would be accepted. Got so bad I used to tell him "no" before I even started scanning, in case he stormed out after calling me a liberal commie idiot. He's ruining it for everyone.
The discount isn't only for active military.
You are correct - it is Active Duty, Veterans (honorable discharge only, with veteran ID card or VA health card, or Veteran status on driver's license), and dependents and spouses with appropriate ID. On holidays it's "anybody who says they're related to the military no matter what because it's not worth the fight". The instructions for the cashiers when I worked there said not to accept a DD-214, even though the new (as of 2022) app-enabled discount process will accept one. We were not to take any other form of ID not listed above, and were to verify the IDs carefully. If the military ID didn't have a photo, we needed a 2nd form of ID with a photo and the same name on it. Generally the only people who ever made a fuss about this process were the guys who came in wearing full camo from the surplus store, with no ID and a shitty attitude - so you'll forgive me if I'm a little salty about it and not getting precise with the details. I got more shit from those assholes and the fucking "small business owners" who tried to scam me on a regular basis than anybody deserves. I'm sorry for the actual military members who try to get this discount and have to jump through a million hoops. Most cashiers never bothered trying to enforce the policy in the first place, because letting people abuse it was easier than trying to save the company $10, until management started breathing down your neck about it and threatening write-ups for not following the policy at least.
Agree about the camo wearing wannabes. I was a cashier at the lumber end, and when I was alone at night, I'd give the discount for a guy wearing an olive drab shirt if he seemed agitated after the first rejection. I was not going to die on that hill. My first point was valid, though - they'd pipe in marching band music all day, rake in the cash, and not pay one cent extra to employees.
This has the same feeling as those news stories that go "HEARTWARMING: The people of this small town all chipped in and bought this 96-year old woman a new pair of shoes so she can continue walking 5 miles each way to her night shift cashier job"
[удалено]
I thought the truck was part of the display at first
One of the ‘contractors’…🙄
Nah, it’ll be some bro in a CyberTruck on his first adventure to Lowe’s to load 3 bags of mulch into the bed and take pics for his Insta.
Rent free much? Lol
You sound like a guy who supports the troops but then gets mad at the fourth of July when your neighbor veterans ask you to not fire fireworks at their houses and you go , "haha triggered lib!"
Is it really "rent free" when it's a constant occurrence? Saying that implies they're always thinking about it without being reminded.
Look in the mirror asshole
Very nice gesture. Let’s show our living vets this same level of respect.
On Veterans Day. This is Memorial Day
I don’t think you should only respect veterans on Veterans Day…
Am vet: IMO just being good to all people is the same level of treatment many vets expect on the daily. Anything above (pleasant call out, extra benefits, etc) is icing on the cake. But different strokes for different folks. Veterans Day is nice and many folks do take advantage of the extra recognition. But for me, it's taking the time and reconciling, in good and bad lights, that a different but intertwined self is not longer connected to that mission and comararderie. Having all the fan fare tends to promote that mood of reconciliation, like when I go to a cathedral to seek god even though I'm an atheist.
I’d upvote this all day if I could
Respect.. year round. Honor.. today is for the fallen, not vets (six year vet here). Lowe’s got it right, here. It’s a good reminder of the purpose of this federal holiday meant to get people to stop and think about why it’s a holiday. A bit tacky but if it gets people talking then it accomplished it’s purpose.
Pretty sure living vets can park at Lowe’s too.
You can literally see the sign for the Veterans parking spot
Virtue signaling from corporations is pathetic.
Lowe's and Home Depot are one of the few companies I know that actually gives a discount to veterans. They also always have reserved spots for veterans. I don't know what more you can expect a company to do to honor vets. I'm sure you've done a lot for veterans.
It's just typical out of touch Reddit nonsense that none of these people would ever dare to spout in public. Like, it's a parking spot my dudes. Can we all just chill out and not act like weirdos when Lowes makes a simple gesture towards dead veterans?
Vail gives such massive discounts it borders on the absurd. A few hundred dollars for my retired reserve friend's entire family at any North American resort. That would normally cost thousands. The discount is on the order of 80-90%.
Is this really an initiative run by corporate Lowe’s? Or is this some employee who is just fuckin trying?
I've seen this at several Lowe's locations over the years.
Almost as pathetic as virtue signaling redditors
I bet the troops would love it if you deleted your account
Soldiers and Sailors was beautiful today as well. Love seeing all the flags on Mt Washington too
But how about considering they honor the fallen by NOT being OPEN at ALL?
To be fair, it's not like they're employing any deceased veterans, as far as we know. Maybe selling a few of them in the fertilizer isle I suppose. Also, we're late stage capitalism baby. There are no holidays, there is no respect, there are only commercial opportunities.
Used to work with a former Home Depot manager and I remember him telling me how Easter and Memorial Day weekends are two of the craziest periods as all the suburbanites come in to get flowers and landscaping materials. They’d do like $50k-100k just in that department each day of the holiday weekend.
As a former Home Depot garden cashier... not only were those two of the busiest weekends of the season they were also most likely to bring in the pissiest customers, families with the worst-behaved kids, and contractors who would literally stuff small high-dollar tools between mulch bags and try to sneak them past the cashiers without paying. I took great pleasure in finding those 'forgotten' items, especially when there were seven people in line behind the dude and they could all see why he was holding up the line.
I wonder if this is common outside of the Northeast. Here, Easter coincides with Spring (and spring flower planting); Memorial Day coincides with garden planting (and official start of summer).
True that
This is so fucking stupid
People fought and died so they could be memorialized by someone rolling out five feet of artificial grass and a tacky little sign onto a single parking spot in a strip mall. Can't get more American than that!
It’s a gesture for fucks sake dude.
It can be a nice gesture while simultaneously being hilarious
There’s no explaining it to these morons
hint, the gesture is stupid because.now.a veteran can't park there. durr.
No one who actually served, honorably, would be remotely bothered by parking further away for one weekend for the sake of that display. And if they were, they’ve got serious issues.
And what did you do to memorialize the people that fought and died?
This parking space memorial is emblematic of the way this whole country treats veterans. It's a tacky, masturbatory display that is deserving of mockery. I hate the term "virtue signaling" because it's often mud slinging from conservatives who don't think people can earnest hold opinions like "treat people different from you with respect." But this parking space memorial is absolutely virtue signaling.
Whoa someone went to college
I did nothing of the sort. I enlisted and then didn't use my GI bill.
It's absolutely unreal and also not shocking at all that this is number one in this hellscape subreddit.
Extremely
You and the point are aggressively far apart
🤡🤡
I don't get this at all
Well done, Lowe’s! I’m shocked that some a’hole didn’t park in that spot.
Truly can’t tell if this is a joke or not
It isn't intended as a joke. Honestly a little disheartened by some of the comments here though. Oh well
OP, you had a small little nice thing today that gave you perspective and a moment of appreciation. Sorry it wasn’t perfect enough for the Reddit masses, but not all of us here were expecting Lowe’s to solve veteran affairs. I appreciated your post.
Lol no worries. I just hail from a more patriotic part of the country. Tis what it is. I also didn't think more than like 15 people would see it haha
I think it’s a nice gesture and I’m grateful that you shared it. Thank you.
“A more patriotic part of the country.” 🙄 FWIW, I have no issue with your original post or Lowes doing this. Do try to get over yourself though.
Not starting anything, just stating a fact. It Is what it is.
I think its funny that after closing, all this stuff is just gonna go back out on the floor lol
I can appreciate the sentiment but maybe choose a spot that’s not reserved for veterans?
Every Lowe’s seems to have this. I know the one in Heidelberg/Carnegie does. The one thing I found annoying was that they used one of the parking spots marked for veterans to do it at the Heidelberg one. I get the symbolism, but it might have been better to take over a different parking spot for a weekend when the point of Memorial Day is to honor our troops.
Memorial Day honors DECEASED veterans, not living ones. Perfectly appropriate to use one of the Veteran parking spots for this.
Except it denies a living veteran the spot designated for them. It's honoring the deceased by slighting the living veterans. It doesn't hit right, does it?
Hits perfectly fine for normal people. That being said, of course most of the ilk of this sub will hate it.
"Normal people" love these stupid things, so I don't really give them much credit.
Does it seem right? No. Is it par for the course for our military? Yes.
No argument there.
Yes, but why couldn’t they just use one of the regular spots next to the veterans’ spots?
Why any spots at all. wtf does this holiday have to do with parking?
Why would they use the veterans parking for that though? One of the perks of being a vet was the good parking spot. Now that is taken. They could have just used another spot for this display.
My only issue is that they took away the space reserved for the vets that made it home... Why not give up the space next to it.
They blocked the veteran parking spot!? Why not block a regular spot? I'm sure vets have no problem remembering fallen soldiers
This is hilarious to me. They were like “how should we honor our fallen veterans this Memorial Day? Aha! We will block off a single parking spot”
me thinks they are just trying to sell some merch, if they are honoring anything it is the almighty dollar
Idk why people are so butthurt about this. It's there for 1 day and only taking up 1 spot. Who is this hurting? Sure, now a living vet can't park there today; but today is not about the living. I think it's a nice, simple gesture and nothing more. I don't see virtue signalling; I see, "Today is Memorial Day; we decorated a parking spot." Calm down, either appreciate the nice gesture or ignore it. It's not affecting your life whatsoever.
nobody's butthurt about a fucking parking spot lol, we're cringing at the typical military meat-riding.
Most of the people on this sub are idiots.
hi, plz explain how this holiday has anything to do with parking spaces. These memorials could be placed literally anywhere else at the business. "It's handicapped awareness day! shut down all the handicapped parking spots and fill them with potted plants!"
Please explain why it matters.
RIP Aaron Bushnell
Great, a mostly meaningless parking lot tribute from a billion dollar company that isn't putting their money where their mouth is.
They are honoring our dead today by having a Memorial Day Sale! That's what this is about. People are going to Lowe's today on Memorial Day to take advantage of a sale. Go to a cemetery or a battlefield, go check out Fort Necessity, spend time with a veteran. Is this how the fallen want to be honored, visiting a memorial set up in a Lowe's parking lot? For anyone who thinks otherwise this day is also about our Veterans, these are the men a woman they served with.
Lowe's has been slashing what is actually covered by their veteran's discount program for years. Kind of like the rest of America, they love to make cheap gestures but fall short where it actually matters: customers' wallets.
A lovely gesture
Seems pretty fucking bizarre to stick this is the veteran parking spot so the living veterans can't park there now and they're the only people it's inconveniencing. Yo ucoled brainstorm a much better gesture in 30 minutes lol.
Living vets tend to appreciate these gestures and it lets us think about the ones lost who we were personally connected to.
We really dont care either way.
wtf does this holiday have to do with parking spaces?
I think this is a very nice memorium for our fallen veterans. I do think they could have used another space.
I would love to purchase a meal for the person or people who came up with this and who did it.
This is very nice to see. It makes me think of my Grandpa (lifelong Pittsburgher) who was a WWII vet and handyman after he retired from being a mechanic. When he no longer felt comfortable driving, I would take us to Lowe's every weekend so he could restock his shed with tinkering supplies. We would drive thru McDonald's to get coffee, drink it in the Lowe's parking lot, and then shop for a long time since he looked at everything! Sometimes I would drive a carload full of him and his remaining "army buddies" to Lowe's, too. It was always a fun time, they would sing polkas the whole way there and back. Sometimes they'd sing army songs. "The coffee in army, they say it's mighty fine...!" It became a weekly reunion for them. But, times goes on. We started losing his friends one by one until he was oddly the last one left. He was always a social, good spirits, strong type of guy...so seeing him lose his friends was as hard as seeing him lose his independence and health. He said longevity was a doubled edge sword. You see a lot, but you lose a lot. At one point on a cold December day, I noticed him really struggling so I asked him if he needed help putting his coat on and he half sadly laughed and said "I always need help these days!" As his caregiver, I was aware of his declining health but it hit me hard during that moment that he was truly fading away and it would be the end of an era once he departed. That cold day in December was our last trip to Lowe's. He died about two months later, peacefully in his sleep, in his 90s. Seeing this makeshift memorial in the parking lot makes me miss him and all of his friends, and I'm thankful for the time we spent together. They were a tough, patriotic bunch. It might be a small gesture to some, but it gives me all of the feels on Memorial Day. Miss you Grandpa! Thank you and all your friends for everything that you did and all of those fun times!
Thank you for sharing this memory with us, it's beautiful. THIS is the meaning behind Memorial Day, to me.
Thanks for taking the time to read it and the kind words, it's greatly appreciated. Who knew that a parking space could be so cathartic!
LOL
Just a virtue signaling hardware store lol
What a nice gesture
Lmfao
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Memorial Day honors the dead. Veterans Day would be the wrong time to do this.
You do realize living veterans aren’t honored on Memorial Day, right?
Why would they use the veterans parking for that though? One of the perks of being a vet was the good parking spot. Now that is taken. They could have just used another spot for this display.
Kind of a dick move if a vet is complaining that they need to walk a few extra yards because the fallen are being remembered. I don’t think any worth while vet is complaining about the spot. Disabled vets are still disabled and probably use the handicap spot anyway. An able embodied vet complaining about this is flat wrong. Yes, I am a vet.
I'm a also a vet. I'm sorry it doesn't make sense to honor fallen vets at the expense of honoring living vets.
Respect.
What the heck.What a weird thing to downvote.
I don’t understand why this comment is getting downvoted. Sorry people aren’t smart 🤔
F
All gave some. Some gave all. 🇺🇸
Some gave up a parking space
some never got to drive!
Redditors are going to be out there saluting this parking space because they have more brain worms than RFK
Please stop this…. And putting beers on tables.
Can we permanently do this for one side of Butler and Penn and Smallman and Atwood and Craig and Walnut?
Why did they take up the Veterans’ spot to honor them? Shouldn’t it be the next space, so they can still use this one?
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Also vet, completely agree. I'm trying to do something similar at work (POW/MIA table) for the interest of vets and general response has been it would be a worthy and appreciated effort.
"It's handicapped awareness day! put potted plants in all the handicapped spots!"
Memorial Day is a out honoring those who have lost their lives while serving. Veterans Day is for veterans. I think most veterans are ok with losing a parking spot for a day to honor those that they fought with and lost
I don’t get on board with the militant semantics over these two holidays. I just think they should leave the damn space available.
I can almost understand wanting to 'har har' at 'dum parking spot so amurica so stupid' but honestly it gives off the fact that you're disconnected from the reality of what it signifies. Its there so you see it and think about who could have been in the spot, but cant because they fucking died protecting american values. To openly mock that says you dont give a shit about the people who died or those values they stood for. Youre allowed to think that, but why not show a modicum of decency about on the legally set day to respect it. Please just enjoy your day off.
I'm a vet and I've lost a classmate to an IED, another classmate to an accident, and 2 friends to suicide. This parking space memorial is stupid and deserves to be mocked.
Also vet. We dont care. I wish people knew this. So how you been?
Okay maybe you got me there but consider this: Yeah, we can scoff, roll our eyes and say 'how stupid and insignificant of a gesture compared to the monetary potential this mega corporation has to show they care.' At the end of the day its still the everyday employee who set this up, whom despite probably being underpaid, did what they could with an intention to show support. Why laugh that off? Much in the same way the Holiday in itself is about honoring those individuals who served for the reasons they served, rather than to glorify our Military Industrial Complex / American War Machine. I think people tend to hyper-fixate on the latter, and end up missing the point, which is why they laugh at a small Parking Lot displays at retail giants. Maybe I'm too "glass half full" about it. I'm not a vet, but my father was KIA in Iraq. So I at least appreciate these acknowledgments.
I'm not anti memorial if they'd do something meaningful. Doesn't have to be extravagant, but the memorialized "veterans only" parking spot just rubs me the wrong way. For starters, it's a parking spot. It's not even in a place others will naturally see it. It just seems like the laziest, low effort attempt to acknowledge it. It'd honestly be better to do nothing than to do this, as far as I'm concerned. It's basically insulting. That's why I feel the way I do about it.
Stupid as fuck.
It's a product display.
This seems like posturing. Essentially a corporation trying to impress people with an empty gesture intended to say ‘look at us’.
Wow. Very nice. It makes me tear up.
Performative patriotism by big corporations 👏👏👏 almost as bad as Mission BBQ doing the star spangled banner at noon every day
Outstanding
How about blocking off 40,000 parking spots for the Palestinians this country is complicit in killing.
Nothing pretty about murder and rape.
Governments like to honor, dead soldiers because dead soldiers don’t cost anything. Said a redditor in 2019
So the veterans fought and died for less parking spots? What is the point of this? I can’t imagine who this benefits. This post is sarcastic right? Edit: can the next person who downvotes me please explain why? I legitimately have no clue why this is a good thing and why I would be downvoted for thinking otherwise. I mean it’s a parking spot *for veterans*! So why tf would you block it on Memorial Day???
Why does it bother you? That will help me answer your downvotes.
I just don’t understand how blocking a veterans parking space honors fallen veterans. Seems oxymoronic to me.
Do you not understand any memorial? It’s to make those who pass by stop and remember the fallen.
Yes I understand memorials. So why didn’t they put it in the parking spot not reserved for veterans? Please do explain how inconveniencing current veterans is better.
I suppose they could have done that, sure. Perhaps as a counter point, the purpose of using this spot is to symbolically help all that pass to conceptualize the sacrifice of the vet who cannot park there because they did not return.
Decent point, still not worth it to inconvenience current vets to honor fallen ones that, unfortunately, will never know this even happened.
A little weird but okay
Nah the dickeating is crazy
Do they get a discount today as well?
Well they're dead, so no. However, they give a 10% military discount everyday.
My father is a vet. Where I live they won’t give it unless you register as a vet on Lowe’s website and get a scan tag in the mail. Stared just taking him to Home Depot if it says it on your license they give the discount.
For a long time, Home Depot didn’t give a discount outside of Memorial Day or Veterans Day, unless you served 20+ years and were officially retired and/or had a service related disability. Some employees enforced this while others didn’t give a shit. Lowe’s always gave a discount and only recently required that you register (you only need to have a phone number in the system unless that recently changed). Home Depot recently (within the last few years) opened it up to all vets, but I’m required to use a smart phone app. So, both currently have a similar policy and if there are work arounds then that’s up to an employee’s discretion and not a corporate policy. The only reason I’d put HD above Lowes at the moment is because Lowes removes the discount on some (all?) sale and clearance items while HD doesn’t currently play that game.
Where I live, Lowe’s has gotten super strict on it. They told him he would have to register through their website for veterans. He’s not super computer handy and I just was a little pissed off about the policy change so we just started going to Home Depot. They have so far not asked us anything about an app he just mentions he’s a vet and shows him his drivers license.
Could just be a bad store. They \*should\* be able to register him at the service desk too. If HD has what he needs then no rush but if he ever does need something at Lowes don't hesitate to take it to the management level. I know it feels awkward demanding a discount (for me at least) but the store really needs to be on top of their own policies so I think it's worth pushing back on a bit (if not for my own sake, hopefully for the sake of someone like your father who comes along later).