Home Depot clearly puts customer satisfaction at the forefront of its shopping experience, from its low-price guarantee to its generous return policy to its myriad of free services. But when it comes to snagging the best markdowns at Home Depot, your smartest course of action may just be asking a store associate for a discount.
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In a video posted to TikTok, user @ericauh18, a former Home Depot employee, revealed that all levels of staff at the home improvement store—whether they’re a manager or department supervisor—have the power to reduce prices by up to $50.
“So every employee in the building has a $50 empowerment to take care of any customer service issues that may come up. That’s $50 any employee can give you off of merchandise that they don’t have to get a manager’s approval for,” she said.
According to the ex-employee, this is Home Depot’s way of ensuring they’re “the number one customer service company in the world.”
In a pair of follow-up videos, she explained scenarios that may trigger an empowerment discount. One is if the last item in stock is slightly damaged but still usable. Another is if the store doesn’t have the specific dimensions of the wood that you ordered online (and it said it was in stock at that location). And a third is if a store doesn’t have the inventory of an item that says it’s in stock online.
As for how many times an employee can use their empowerment discount per shift, the limit does not exist. “There is no time limit on the empowerment… It’s $50 per customer, not for [the employee] to spend per day, weekly, or monthly,” @ericauh18 said in another video.
However, TikToker and finance guru John Liang notes that depending on which Home Depot staff member you talk to, customers can actually save upwards of $500 per transaction.
“Store associates can give up to $50. Supervisors can give up to $100, and assistant managers can give up to $500,” he shockingly revealed in a video of his own. “You’re never going to know until you ask, so just ask!”
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While Liang’s video does have merit to it, several past and current Home Depot staffers warned that the empowerment policy shouldn’t be mistaken for an employee discount, and is “situational” based on customers’ requests and needs.
“This ain’t bargain hunt my guy,” one person commented, adding that the discount isn’t applied “just because you don’t like the price.”
Another agreed: “This is semi true but you don’t get it by just asking. Something has to be wrong or missing.”
“Former home depot employee yes we can give a 50$ discount but it can’t be just for any reason like an expensive tool it has to be a a valid reason,” another commenter double-downed.
So while it doesn't hurt to ask, keep in mind that Home Depot associates may require a concrete reason to hand out an empowerment discount.
