I've been on the Fat Wallet website discussing similar stuff with Home Depot and they throw everything out if it doesn't sell. Patio furniture, lights, you name it. Huge landfill waste. It's stunning. I think if people knew they'd stop shopping there - they could at least donate the stuff.

I was told by HD salesperson that they ship plants/bulbs back to the vendor when they can't sell. I wonder if they lied to me.

Lowe's is a big contributor to Habitat For Humanity .
SO many good things that might be thrown out , are
donated towards building homes .
Any large organization could be run better
and more efficiently - that's for sure .

I got a few orchids half off at HD. Maybe it was a new manager, cause I never got any again. He also didn't mind if I snipped a few leaves from plants destined for the dumpster. Got some nice begonias that way.

I did get some nice half price (past blooming) orchids at my local chain nursery (Johnson's if you live in Maryland).

Florrie

Okay, I have to put in my two-cents, both as a person on the retail side of things, and as a customer. And to clarify, no, I do not work at a big box-store. It's not a chain store. And I'm damn proud of the work I do, even though I know there's always room for improvement.

Firstly, as it's been explained by many a store employee, yes the store / nursery gets credit back from the manufacturer for plants that have expired / haven't sold. It is an agreement between the buyer and the seller that the plants are DESTROYED. It would cost the seller too much to have them shipped back. In some cases this is done, but usually this is limited to small items such as bulbs and small houseplant items and such. I know it makes sense that "Well if they're going to throw them away why can't I have them?". You cannot have them because the store is under legal obligation NOT to give them away. Then one would say "Then they should take better care of them". On any given spring day, go out to one of these nurseries and start counting plants. Just start at one row and start counting. And realize that in a given week, thousands more plants will come in, thousands will be sold, and maybe less than a few hundred will actually have expired, gone past there prime. There is a turn-over, like any other business, because even with good care, plants die. Things come up. Crap happens. The better nurseries manage to keep their plants happier longer, but in the long run, a large perennial shrub can only last so long in a 5 gallon bucket. Less in a gallon pot. Less in a 4 inch pot.

Now as a frugal customer, you see this as blatant waste. And anything a employee tells you is an excuse for this waste. And of course there's always incompetent people to make matters worse. Guess what? There's incompetent people EVERYWHERE. I see them everyday. It's only obvious that some of those people would have jobs where they work incompetently in an area where we would inevitably be forced to interact with them. Back to being the customer, you see this as waste and expect the nurseries to do something about it. What? I've already established that they can't just 'give them away'. Should they let them sit on the sales rack longer then? For how long? You have to realize that the stores don't just throw a clearance sign on a plant for five minutes, clock it, then say 'Okay toss this baby out we're getting credit for it!". No, they try to sell it first, at a lesser profit to them because like it or not, they're a business. They're trying to make a living just like each and everyone of us does as well. So they try to at least squeeze a meager profit out of it. If that doesn't happen within a reasonable time, then the store logically has to move it. Why? BECAUSE THE PLANT LOOKS LIKE $%*^. See, a frugal customer, myself included, may see a plant in need of rescue. But a vast majority of shoppers see that as a sign of a bad nursery, a business that does not care about it's image. Even if a business hides this clearance 'zone' away from the main public eye, it will eventually be seen, and in many that leaves a bad 'taste' in their mouths as shoppers. Remember, the business thing? Business need money. That's how they stay ... in business. If you want that plant, then get it when's it's discounted. Lots of other people were already willing to pay the price it was worth when it was healthier. Fewer, though still some might pay it's accomodated price for it's current state. But when I have to deal with the constant "Oh, you're throwing that away? Can I have it? *no* ... " every few weeks? People like that give frugal shoppers a bad image. I see these vultures every so often. They're a rare breed, mind you, and shouldn't be alloted with the rest, but they're there. They eye the same plant, every time they come in. They get in a tiff when someone else pays for it at a price they wouldn't give in to, and they fuss when they don't want to pay at a price lower than what they themselves would've gotten it for even if they were a wholesale business. Freaking VULTURES.

Now, stores / managers should be somewhat accommodating. It's not unreasonable for a customer to ask for a discount on a plant, but asking for anything over 40% is pushing at a major loss for the retailer. In the customers mind it's "just $5" but a loss is a loss. It is a constant reflection on someone's higher-up (even small businesses have higher-ups) that can be good or bad, and every loss and gain counts. Friendliness and respect will get you far here. But do not assume that because even if you are a regular, that you are given manatorial (I so made up that word because I could) privileges.

Personal rant: Customer comes in. Sees flat of flowers, looking not their best but certainly not out for the count, in July. Asks if he could get a deal on them, and had they been actually worse for wear, I would've asked the manager. But they certainly weren't, they had new buds, so I said no. He then gets the gall to insist "Well, these petunias are starting to get covered in fungus, and you're an idiot to not give them to me at a discount price. Now it's just going to spread, and when you throw them away, the manager will let me take them out of the trash, because he knows me". I replied with an "Okay, sir" and left, because I didn't need to stoop down a few levels. I didn't need to stoop down and tell him "Sir, that'd be great and all, if those really were petunias, and not the lavenders they really are. And if that really was a fungus, and not normal leaf variegation, which it is. And if the manager really knew your name, which I'm pretty damn sure he doesn't".

So, frugal customers, bear with us. Forgetting about the few incompetents out there, we're really trying our hardest to do the best with what we got. It's business, that's just how it is. And most of us try to compensate elsewhere when we can. Our business is a strong donor to 4-H. We try to use our utilities wisely, and operate in the least wasteful manner. You're not going to see us throw away a truck full of flowers because they were Marigolds that "Well shucks, these should sell good in January", and then they all froze. It's my nightmare that one of my higher-ups may one day do that, but that's neither here nor there and will probably be dealt with should it ever happen.

Thank you for your patience.
Jordan

I am in So. CA. Our WM takes care of the plants...at a certain time they mark them half off and then at a discounted price. Our Target seems to do the same. And the HD and Lowes. I get a lot at WM that grow very well even at the discounted price. Rarely loose one and that is usually my own fault. I have a neighbor who works at Lowe's and if plants are down to marked discounted, and they do not sell, he puts them in the back of his truck. No sense in letting the plant and pot go to landfill. (most of his live just fine) Maybe it has to do with the area and how much gardening is done. There are some people who would never buy a plant except from a high priced nursery or have a landscaper do it for them. Hey if it is inexpensive enough and what I want, then heck with where I buy it.

Possibly they are afraid of some shady character buying a good plant at full price just like the one they got out of the dumpster, and then returning the dead plant, getting their money back and keeping the good plant. One manager at a Home Depot said landscapers would come into the store and poke holes in the bags of fertilizer and soil amendments so they could come back later and buy them at a discount off the broken bag clearance pile.

SillyB, good idea about giving them away. It would be a great plan. Another idea is to start a community gardening group effort to take some of these plants and spruce up city lots in not so pretty parts of town. I too think it's sad to see plants grown, and if they can't make money anymore, thrown in trash. We take so much and never give back. It's a shame, our disposable society and its ways. It's all about the money. If us like-minded people get together and make our voices heard, maybe some policies will change. Until then, we are just complaining to eachother. Much love to you all.

jordan_californicus still in reality its waste of resource whether or not they get credit back. Its still exists and is a resource that could go to good use and their destroying it.
Remember money = Claim on Energy/human labor. So whether the store gets a credit back. The Labour and energy has already be expended on the plant. Now the plant exists and is being destroyed. Its a waste.

I cannot believe I am going to post on something almost 5 years old. Obviously those of you saying they should just 'give it away' have never worked retail.

Try to imagine for one minute if word got out that any retailer would just give something away when it was in bad shape.

I'm sure no one on this site would ever do this but believe me, having worked in retail for 20+ years, there are TONS AND TONS of swell folks out there who would break, tear, stomp on, uproot, roll over with their cart and then have no problem cheerfully and regularly taking item to the counter and ask for a freebee. Seriously, when HD had a policy to take back any plant that didn't live, people brought back their DEAD CHRISTMAS TREES, After Christmas! I am not kidding, I worked there.

Working with the general public isn't pretty people. get over it and shop at your local stores if you don't like it (oh, but here's a dirty little secret - they throw things out too).

When I noticed plants dying un watered and offered to buy them, the HD manager told me that they do not water regularly.
He would not sell them to me as he stated if they were to die I would just try to get my money back.
The manager stated that they send the plants back to the vendor for full credit. They do not care if the plants live as they have nothing to lose if they do not water them.
I find it disgusting and think that is cheating the vendor.

My local HD let the plants intentionally wilt and die. It was not from customers stomping on them to get a "freebie".

To answer your HD questions and concerns.
First of all each HD has a manager that runs his/her store as they see fit. Therefore I can only speak for "our" store. Each associate is trained for their individual department. I work as a garden associate and we have 16 hours of horticulture certification and another 8 hours of nursery consultant certification. Yes, we do know the answers to your questions and more. Cashiers are just that and people that load stuff for you do not. Don't expect them to be knowledgeable about such things. Our Garden dept manager IS a master gardener. Our plants are NOT owned by HD and are brought in by vendors. Vendors WANT and LOVE a chance to put their plants on HD shelves to sell because they make more money by doing so in the hundreds of HD stores than they would selling themselves. Their merchandise is what we call pay by scan which means if it's not sold it is no loss to HD and if it is then the profit is shared. So of like consignment selling. This is just business folks, the way it is. Therefore HD cannot mark down plants that do not belong to them so don't ask for the half dead plants that are being thrown away. It's not our choice but the vendors choice to throw them out. Possible reasoning is it cost to much to them to ship them back, they could be weaker and have diseased. The HD as does the vendor does not want unhealthy plants on the shelves. It's not a good reflection on either. Our vendors DO MARK down some plants at their descretion. The vendors have people hired that come in and display their plants and put them out on the racks. They are called display merchandisers. HD for the summer has hired outside help to water plants. It is their only job. We tried having associates water and found that these plants in the South need watering twice a day and as big as our nursery is is a 8 hour job for one person which left our customers lacking on our attention. We do put our customers first. It is so important to us we have what is called the VOC. On your HD receipt you'll find a web link to go to that questions your service at our store. When our associates have made you happy and you tell us that, the associate receives an award. So, yes, we strive to put that smile on your face. While at times we may be understaffed please understand it's summer and over 100 degrees on days that we are trying to keep the nursery going, loading pave stones, pine straw and answer questions.
HD has a great return policy on plants. We've taken back plants that have obviously been neglected by the customer with no questions and replaced those plants. I've watched people buy plants for centerpieces at parties only to return them for a refund when their party was over. It's easy to place blame when you don't understand the inner workings of a business and all that goes on. Most of the time we don't even have a say so on what plants come to us from our vendors. The vendors themselves send what they think will sell. If you have questions or concerns I'd be glad to answer any way that I can.

Would you people get over this...

I can't believe people are going to the manager and complaining about plants being tossed.

I know several local greenhouses including the Amish who do the same thing.

Get a life and be happy !

No one should get over wasting the life of an innocent plant but more importantly there are certain ethics involved. If the manager does not have enough respect for a plant then how is he going to take care of other issues in his store. My wife and I walk into all of the stores at the start of the season and pay full price for every plant that has been abused and our huge garden is a showcase. I have argued with managers and assistants about the care of their plants and they are told not to care. I have even called one individual (assistant manager)an idiot because he boasted that he had been a professional for 20 years and threw the plant in the garbage can as I was standing there. I do not see how anyone can disrespect life in that way when all that would truly be required is a little bit of water and some TLC which can be a customer in appreciation of a discount. We are getting just a little too self centered to believe that a plant does not have life and the individuals that are in charge of these centers are not understanding the true meaning of leadership.

Jeez. Just don't shop at these stores. There are still plenty of small business hardware and garden stores to go to. Be sure to let lowes or HD know why you don't go there, and let that be the end of it. Plants in these stores are generally ill cared for, and bad care weakens them...even if they still look good at the store, they may be stressed from too much water (especially the house plants) or not enough water (outside plants) or too much or too little sun etc etc. This lack of decent care weakens plants, makes them susceptible to disease etc. So I stay away from these types of stores and buy where some thought goes into the plant care....and let the big corporations know it. They are wasteful because they CAN be...people don't care, or, they DO care, but not enough to stop buying.

I went into Walmart last week looking for a deal on plants for containers. I'm a single Mom and I have to watch every penny I spend. Who isn't looking to stretch every dollar in this economy? I found a big rack full of pink geraniums all the way in the back, on "clearance". Doesn't that mean they are discouted so they will sell? They were more expensive than the other plants! They were charging $1.00 for each cell, 3 cells in a pack.They were nearly twice as expensive as the other plants! The plants were beat up and looked terrible. Judging by the location and condition, I wonder if those ended up in the garbage. The price didn't make sense. They were so over priced, and if they lowered the price and put them in a better spot they would have sold. I asked a worker who wasn't helpful at all & said they couldn't be discounted. I didnt have time to wait for the store manager. I was cold and raining, and I left very disappoined. Today I went to Loews for the first time. I got a great deal, a beautiful hanging basket of petunia's for $5! These sell at WM for $10 or more. There must be a better solution for these plants. Rather than throwing them away, Donate them, discount them, find a solution. Stating they can't be discounted, or it's the store policy they have to be thrown away, is part of the problem and not the solution. First they should be discounted, the ones not sold should be donated. People at the shelters, soup kitchens, hospitals, community organizations, etc, would appreciate them. Throwing them in the garbage is a terrible waste. What happened to going green?

Unfortantly WM does throw the plants away. That salesperson told you the truth,and if you waited around for the manager he would have said the same thing.I do nt understand why they cant give the plants away either,or mark them down.Thats one thing I like about Lowes they will mark them down.Thats where I shop for plants.No wonder this country is hurting. Look at what we throw away,and don t recycle.

I have two thoughts on this subject. First, plants thrown in the garbage and that end up in the landfill are composted back to nature. Isn't that what we all do? It probably helps the landfill to have the soil added from the potted plants to speed the composting along of everything else in there. Secondly, I LOVE shopping at Lowes, because they deeply discount damaged goods and plants (75% off at my local store) and they take back trees and perennials within a year of purchase that my brown thumb manages to kill, and with no argument!

i dropped by my local lowe's yesterday and headed for the distressed-plant carts in the back. there were a bunch of dahlias and asters that had already bloomed but were otherwise OK. the garden manager said that they were half-off, and then changed his mind and said "a dollar each! we're getting rid of them!" i was thrilled! i'm going back for more later on today!

by the way, when dealing with employees at big-box stores, please keep in mind that they don't make the rules. however, if you don't express your indignation and treat the employees nicely (and with respect), sometimes they'll bend the rules in your favor.

I did not read all of the comments first. So if this has been addressed, apologies.

HOME DEPOT DOES NOT OWN THE PLANTS BEING THROWN AWAY!!!!!!!
HD does not own them until you pay for them at the register. Think of it as a display area for the nursery providers. HD would NEVER waste product its own like that. The plants are so cheap for the nurseries to raise they just toss them when they start looking bad, or honestly, when they need room for something else.

Hopefully this has helped out of few of the horrified and shocked people commenting. Its not all big and bad like you think! Bring it up with the store local nursery provider.

I own a wholesale greenhouse. I am also a vendor at Wal Mart and Home Depot. I have some insight for all of you.

As a grower, I throw out flowers all of the time. Sometime beatiful product which isn't sold because of cancelled contracts, over ripe, missed the ship date, whatever. It's business. I don't WANT to throw the product out, but it happens. That's business. I'm lucky enough that my product can be tossed outside (with out a pot)and will decompose. I can't give these products away to local organizations because I am, ultimitally, running a business and want to make money. If I give away product once, local customers will come to expect it and then I'll just be growing product to "give away" which does little for my bottom line.

Major retailers, like Home Depot and Wal Mart, are where you want your product in my business. I'm lucky enough to be a vendor at both of these companys. With Wal Mart, the vendor chooses how product will be disposed of if it is unsellable, option one is return to vendor and option two is destroy. Live goods don't receive these options, mostly because once it's dead, it's dead. You can't repackage it and send it somewhere else. So, as much as you think it's a waste, don't blame Wal Mart, it's the vendor who chose how unsellable product will be dealt with. The sales assosiate is just doing what the vendor wants him to do.

As mentioned in other posts, Home Depot is PAY BY SCAN. HD doesn't own the product and has no say in whether or not they can give you a deal. PBS is tough on vendors. You put your product into the store in hopes that it will sell at full price. Most of the time, that doesn't happen, specifically in Horticulture.

So please, before you post about how bad it is that the plants are begin thrown out, think of the vendor. Those are his or her profits being tossed out, at no cost to HD. The Vendor paid for the cutting, the vendor paid for the soil, the vendor paid for the tray, the vendor paid for the tag, the vendor paid for the fertilizer, the vendor paid the shipping costs, at HD, the vendor paid someone to take care of the product. The only person loosing in this situation is THE VENDOR!!!!!

So do you really think they want the product tossed?

@Msgutcher

I understand that flooding the market with clearance-priced plants is not going to be good for demand...

But these aren't necessarily just your everyday garden plants; these are the least-popular colors and varieties after others have been picked over, these are remaining plants that are battered and perhaps only a third or half would survive the year, and these are often being sold out of season.

I think it's about helping the vendor recover some of the losses, which I'd be happy to do, especially considering how many nurseries are small businesses in a generally-mindful and well-meaning industry.

So as someone who loves a clearance deal on plants, I don't think saving a bunch of plants from an otherwise certain demise (of a variety I probably wasn't particularly looking for and of a quality I wouldn't particularly like, but happened upon in its last stop before the dumpster) is somehow depressing the market for plants. I'm still gonna go out for the big, healthy showy ones next year when they're in season.

I am frustrated with the big chain stores - not because I see it as a waste of plants, but because I see big business coming before good business or big business coming before business that gives fair consideration to all parties. I know that many small vendors feel so lucky to get an audience from a major chain in the first place, that they'll accept whatever deal they can get even if it's risky for them.

Unfortunately there is waste in every aspect of society. An example is I work at a middle school I try to watch the kids if they take a milk and do not open it or drink it they are supposed to put it back many just throw it in the trash!! Same with oranges or bananas. Why? As a society we need more awareness of waste and conserving things. The schools will soon start to compost so that will be a good thing.

Yes, there is alot of waste in this society. What I just found out from a large do-it- youself store where I just so happened to find landscape plants originally $18.95 marked down to $0.50!!! Only needed water, but anyway, the salesperson told me the stores really make their money off of the potting soils, fertilizers, and bug killer. The plants are there to get you in to buy. Just as the stores really don't make money off of lumber anymore, it's the drills, nail guns, etc.

if you don't like what they do, don't shop there. Your wallet is a very good tool to change behavior.

Support your local independent nurseries.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Locally-Owned-Garden-Centers-or-Nurseries-LOGON/206317609401303

I just snagged 20 large mums in full bloom, 1.5 gal pots, from the dumpster of a local *small* box hardware store. They're a little sprawled out from not having enough sun, which is probably why they tossed them, but very healthy. They'll look great next year.

I love getting ADD. No, not that ADD, I mean After-hours Dumpster Discount. :-D

After reading through this entire post---daunting, I would just like to share maybe a unique experience at HD I had.

There was a "dead" coconut palm at HD sitting next to the trash after much talk they said I would get a major discount on it, like 80% markdown. Keep in mid this was in October. Eventually a man at the register, who was the manager i believe, ended up offering me a second coconut palm "dead" which was in really rough condition for absolutely nothing! I walked off the lot with an amazing smile and an oppurtunity to save these tricky plants.

I don't work for HD but do work for a BB store and my job is not in the Garden Center. But I work there often because I have some knowledge about plants and don't mind busting my 100 lbs ass loading your 40 bags of mulch at a super cheap price because you wouldn't pay that at your local garden center. So I volunteered a day every weekend this summer to come in an water to help keep plants alive when they have no one else do do it. We rarely throw plants away only mark them down. My suggestion is to join a political party that does not promote big box store and work from there. Otherwise shop local and don't worry about what the people are doing with their money when and where they want to. If you want change it is not happening at the garden center at your local BB store.

if you bought your plants at a nursery.. instead of a hardware store ...

then all the nurseries wouldnt have gone out of business ...

on that logic.. i dont understand the confusion about how poorly a hardware store runs their plant section .. crikey .. its a hardware store ...

its like when i used to call up a buddy.. and tell him i was going for ribs.. did he want anything ... and he would say.. get me the fish ... and then spend the rest of the night complaining the fish was just terrible.. i'm like.. DUDE!!! .. its a freaking rib shack in metro detroit ... not a fish joint .. blimey ... [and mind you.. detroit does not have gulf coast rib and fish joints]

whats next.. the plants at the grocery store going to let us down ... lol ...

ken

I had worked for Home Depot briefly.They hire contracting companies to water their plants.

I stood out there in the rain and was still told to water them regardless.

Turn over is bad because you are outside regardless of weather conditions while the managers find inside things to do.

I brought up a topic about discounted plants that are in bad shape but was never offered any damaged plants.

This is probably why some of the plants die.All the over watering that they do.

Customers love a bargain as so do I ...I work in a retail nursery department of a large chain store. We all do our very best to keep the plants healthy so we can sell them.. we are NOT in the business to kill but to sell live , healthy plants, but our job is also to stock, arrange, water, deadhead, help customers, load , unload, answer questions via in person on the phone, also to face all thousands of garden products such as the bags of fertilizers to lawnmowers, do inventory etc etc....so sometimes the plants suffer, or they don't sell during their prime, most plants other then succulents don't love living in a tiny container for too long, so they get marked down. Good for the green thumpers, great price and surprise ..they live!

Many customers kill their plants, not the growers fault but theirs and still get their money back... in nature not all plants survive .... Mother Nature doesn't ask for a discount or something for free. It is a business ...there is profit and loss, the IRS, big business have to report to them too, not just us regular people. So people maybe just be just a little more understanding, I love the plants that I work with and my customers. I think most nursery employees do, they are "my babies" and I want the customers to love them as I do. So I care for them the best I can until they are sold. Don't worry too much about plants dying, everything does eventually.

I know I’m a decade late but I rescued a blueberry plant from Walmart had had pretty much no leaves for 5 dollars and now it’s healthy.

Good deal. I once found 20 crabapple trees in a dumpster at a farm supply store and only one had an unbroken stem. Took it home and planted it across the street in a blank spot in the park/schoolyard where one of a row of trees had died and was never replaced. It was blooming last week. I gloat to myself whenever I see it. :-]

I was just at my local Home Depot store and experiencedhe same thing. An entire cart full of plants that had not been well kept. I was going to buy them anyway and was told that I couldn't. I found a manager and he said they have to throw them out per their contract with the nursery. Really? Guess I will head on over to Lowes.

I doubt Lowes is doing anything much different. What you need is a local greenhouse. We have one called Strawberry Hill that has a huge selection, millions of plants, better quality, competitive prices, and they recognize you from last year.

They never have neglected plants.

If you can find one of those, you'll be doing a lot better.

So many of these comments are sad and funny. Full disclosure: I presently am employed in the garden department of one of the big box stores. And my spouse worked for another a couple of years back. That being said, the amount of entitlement in saying someone, anyone, should just give you something is amazing. First of all, that's just really not a good business model. Secondly, you have the "regulars" who ONLY buy from the clearance racks and rarely, if ever, pay full price. And they, of course, want to haggle over the extremely discounted prices. So imagine what would happen if they got "free" plants. They would come in often and insist on getting free stuff constantly. Kind of hard to pay the employees, the lights and water, and any other expenses involved with actually running a business. Oh yeah, and to have the product that people want for free.

They have people that are waterers. That's their only job. Every. Single. Day. Different plants have different requirements but there is no possible way to give each plant the individual attention that folks seem to think they should be given. Plants that come in in 6- and 9-packs don't get the same air circulation that the individually potted ones do. They'll be too wet and moved to the clearance rack sooner. Some require watering twice a day and will look dried out by the end of the day. They'll take longer to get to the clearance rack because they'll pop back more quickly when they're watered the next morning.

Some nice looking plants will be put on the clearance rack if they've simply been there too long (think expiration date). And some will be put there because newer ones come in that are the exact same plant and they have to make room.

It would be lovely to know exactly how many plants will sell and exactly how many people will be shopping. But those are not things that can be nailed down in an exact way. And trying to offer variety for the few people who may want something different is also not an exact science.

After ours go to the clearance rack, they may still die or get to the point where they can't be sold because they are really close to being dead, or too many shipments are coming in and there's just no more room. Those then have to be culled (written off). They are actually scanned in the system as throw-aways and are officially taken out of inventory. You can not give those away. An employee - peon to manager, would be fired. Think about it... If an employee writes off a product and then gives it away, that would considered theft. No different than writing off, say, a generator, then giving it to your friend.

What really breaks my heart is the people who buy plants and then decide they don't want them. They get their money back but those beautiful, healthy, plants have to be trashed, same as food. They can't take the chance on folks taking the plants home and bringing back a plant disease that they didn't even know they had in their yard. I just had a guy bring over a hundred dollar's worth the other day because his wife didn't like the color. That's a true waste.

The best option is to just start your own store and show those who have been doing this for years how it's done. Only you'll find out rather quickly how many "customers" you'll have demanding free stuff and how soon you'll go out of business.

They were still doing this last summer. It's 2020, and they will do it again. It is so selfish to toss them in that way. They refuse to even sell them at a discounted rate. I had to watch my dream plant, it was perfect (mint condition), go to waste. Boo, shame on them.

I also work at a large chain store. I work in the pharmacy and on my breaks I used to love walking around the garden center looking at all the plants. Then after a couple of months of working there I started to notice what really goes on back there. I have witnessed the store throw away a massive number of plants on a regular basis. some look completely healthy but it seems they just have way way too many and cant sell them and some just look totally neglected for no reason. I have actually felt so bad I’ve paid full price for half dead plants before, then once I got them home I simply watered them and by the next day they were really heathy looking again. So no I am not just some cheap skate looking for a handout free plant I’m just a person that has respect for living things enough that I’d actually pay an absurd price for a half dead plant just to save its life. That being said I understand it’s business but we’re not talking about TVs or clothing we are talking about living things and really I’ve watched plants wither away for literally weeks without simply being watered then sent to the back of the store on a huge cart filled with “garbage plants“ to be thrown away. At that point if you feel sorry and want to save some you aren’t allowed to even buy them at full price they are doomed to be destroyed. So yes if that’s what you call doing the best you can I’d say maybe you just shouldn’t have a garden center. I have about 25 plants in my house and I work 40 hours a week and still manage to care for all my plants. I find it hard to believe that a store opened between 12 and 24 hours a day and staffing hundreds of employees could find it impossible to water any one plant in weeks. And again if that is the case just close your garden center please. And as far as not being able to predict what is going to sell or not I’ve seen dozens of plants of one type thrown away because they didn’t accurately gestimate the demand for them. Again we’re talking about living things. why would anyone automatically assume they sell 500 mini succulents in golf ball sized pots for 2 dollars a piece and proceed to order them all at once then when they don’t sell at least half of them not mark them down and just throw them away. Oops just another day in big business. good thing we don’t grow a heart and give some of them away the store would probably go under! And all those cheap skates would get something for free. its not like theyd have to come back again and actually pay for their laundry soap or food or lumber or dry wall. All those free plants would just lead to anarchy...

I think people just don't understand how big box stores work, especially the nursery department. They offer such good prices on plants because of their agreements with the growers to buy in bulk. They may not want to order 500 mini succulents but, they have to. There are minimum orders. So thousands are bought and shipped knowing they will not survive or be sold. There is much much more product than demand. And is not that they are not getting watered! they get watered before most people have had their morning coffee. The plants are not in an environment where they can live for ever. Most plants do not normally survive in a tiny tiny root bound pot, with not enough light or too much for months till they are sold, just the succulents. Maybe if everyone of us went and bought a plant 5 days a week, we might keep up with how many are shipped.

The nursery department is NOT making money and usually that portion of the store is taking a loss, but people want to see pretty plants in a store, so they are there. In one big box store I know of.... they only pay the growers for the plants they sell so the growers take those plants not selling or looking not perfect off the shelves daily and take them away. They must account for these plants and keep records scanning every bar code for profit and loss just like any other business.... they can not give away inventory. If you look at this from a business stand point and not just " a plant is a living thing" you can see how give aways just don't work.

In June can you go get free Christmas cards from Hallmark? I think not. But old cards get recycled and old plants turn back to the earth... it's ok.

I know i Am responding to a 5 year post but I have to say they are still doing the same thing. I went there looking for plants and found the same thing the first post said but in a larger scale. Another lady and I watered the plants and asked if we could buy a few of the dying plants and was told no they would be thrown away. Someone mentioned getting those plants free I think the could donate to a school that has a garden. The bottom line is those plants are living just needing water and sunlight And if you can’t give them that I put it as torturing those plants. The Big stores don’t realize most consumers do not know that part of the store is contracted out they see the store as neglectful.

Wasteful! Why not donate those plants to Habitat for Humanity or to brightrn up local homeless shelters? CHANGE the policies if they are wasteful and outdated...the world has changed and we all need to adjust.

I don't think Habitat for Humanity or any other charity has the time or the money to care for dying plants. They do get donations form big box stores that are non- perishable, that makes more sense. Plants that are on their last leg don't fair much better being thrown on to a hot truck and tossed around til they get to their destination . To assume they will get put in the ground in perfect conditions and thrive is a bit koo koo. It would be better if hopefully someday the old plant material was composted and the soil reused... but we aren't there yet.

I'm reading all these posts and I must say, if I see the plants in a dumpster (near a dumpster), I WILL be pulling them out and taking them with me. They're in the garbage, they are fair game!!!

So, now it’s 2022 and the problem lives on. I just left Target, livid. An employee was dumping houseplants into a large plastic bag. I had to stop and ask her what she was going to do with them and she said they would be thrown out because they had “expired”. Not expired, as in, died, but had reached a seemingly arbitrary expiration date like a carton of eggs might. Let me be clear - these were not dead or dying plants and could have sold at their original price. These plants were beyond perfect. Several were a variety I have at home that looked significantly better than my own. When I mentioned it to the Customer Service rep helping me he said “you should see all the food we toss”. Really? Their defense, of course, being that don’t want to be sued if someone gets ill. There are ways to tackle this obstacle as well. In NY, for instance, companies are protected from liability with insurance provided.
These items absolutely could be effectively donated regardless of all of the circumstances mentioned above. All that would be required is a little time, ingenuity and a genuine willingness to support the community that ultimately keeps their store open.
Darcel is correct. The world has changed and with all the steps these corporations claim to be taking these days to be (or striving to appear to be) socially and environmentally conscientious they are still failing on many fronts. They’re going to a lot of trouble to change the way people think and behave yet as a corporate collective they seem to be in “do as I say, not as I do” mode.

I find lowes t be doing a decent job on this front. They always have a discount rack where dead, dying, disheveled, or just surplus plants are marked down to half or sometimes just a dollar or a few quarters. A win win for everyone.

That’s good to know. Question to the vendors who lose out on this waste: if they plants are donated (legit non-profit enterprise) does this allow you to write off the loss?

Slightly off topic but related: I heard WalMart is in trouble AGAIN for improper disposal of hazardous waste generated at its stores and warehouses in the form of damaged or returned products. Some of this is pesticides, fertilizers, weed n feed, etc.

Fined $82M in 2013 for violating FIFRA and the Clean Water Act in CA and MO

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/29/business/wal-mart-is-fined-82-million-over-mishandling-of-hazardous-wastes.html

CA now suing WM claiming it has dumped 160,000 lb of haz wastes in CA landfills each year for the past 6 years.

https://www.npr.org/2021/12/20/1066010089/walmart-sued-for-allegedly-dumping-hazardous-waste-in-california

I truly thought/hoped they had learned.

I FULLY

Well, thanks for that Tyana.