What's the company culture at 84 Lumber?

Every business has it's own style. What is the office environment and culture like at 84 Lumber?

Are people dressed in business casual, jeans and t-shirts, or full-on suits? Do folks get together for Friday happy hours and friendly get-togethers?

What is a typical day in the life of an employee at 84 Lumber?

Khaki dickies and polo shirts 6 days a week.
I was not allowed to have fellow employees as friends
and spending anytime with coworkers outside of work
was frowned upon unless you were a salesman. 84 get
togethers are generally dreaded things with little
attendance. you work 10-11 hour days, and for a long time
you were lucky if you got a lunch break. Female and minority employees are generally frowned upon and looked
down on and basically treated like crap. But if you are a white male, go for it!

Ah....So that is why I haven't heard anything......oh well.

hey former employee... sound like you got fired and have a chip on your shoulder. 84 has a thriving diversity program and most stores have a woman working there and minorities. You are so wrong about the socializing. The stores atmosphere is like a family. You should really watch what you say before you make ignorant statements. But im sure your succesful in whatever you are doing now.

I had a differant experience with 84. Everyone I worked with was great and once a week we went to the local bar after work. The problem with *4 is that to move up you have to be willing to be a "company man" and move everywhere as needed. If you want to stay close to your home town and family its not a company for you. I learned a lot about the LBM industry at 84 as a manager trainee. I worked hard and was made a co manager within 7 months and stayed at that level for almost a year. I then took my skill set to another lumber company and make twice what I was making at 84. If the right job (and pay rate) came up I'd work for Maggie again.

liar liar in Norfolk, Virginia said: hey former employee... sound like you got fired and have a chip on your shoulder. 84 has a thriving diversity program and most stores have a woman working there and minorities. You are so wrong about the socializing. The stores atmosphere is like a family. You should really watch what you say before you make ignorant statements. But im sure your succesful in whatever you are doing now.

Former employee.... this is probably one of the most backward companies out there. There is hardly any diversity. 84 is currently being sued by the EEOC. They just had a diversity day and everyone laughed throughout the whole thing. By the way, their founder Joe Hardy just married a 22 year old. He's 84.

Joe in Cary, North Carolina said: Former employee.... this is probably one of the most backward companies out there. There is hardly any diversity. 84 is currently being sued by the EEOC. They just had a diversity day and everyone laughed throughout the whole thing. By the way, their founder Joe Hardy just married a 22 year old. He's 84.

Get your facts straigh Joe...if that's your real name, Diversity is everywhere. Sounds like your jealous of Joe Hardy...is your love life lacking??? You can meet men on the internet ya know! Bitter ex-employees just have to go...get on w/your life dude!

frank in Garner, North Carolina said: Get your facts straigh Joe...if that's your real name, Diversity is everywhere. Sounds like your jealous of Joe Hardy...is your love life lacking??? You can meet men on the internet ya know! Bitter ex-employees just have to go...get on w/your life dude!

Here's a link to an article that explains the law suit..... www.hreonline.com/HRE/story.jsp?storyId=18576915. I am not sure how you got to "finding men online" from Joe's inappropriate marriage to a 22 year old, but your comment certainly speaks to the culture of 84 and it's employees.

Joe in Cary, North Carolina said: Here's a link to an article that explains the law suit..... www.hreonline.com/HRE/story.jsp?storyId=18576915. I am not sure how you got to "finding men online" from Joe's inappropriate marriage to a 22 year old, but your comment certainly speaks to the culture of 84 and it's employees.

You've done your homework Joe .... impressive. Did you work for 84 lumber? If so, for how long? I'm curious about the turnover w/this company. The founder of any company's personal life is their business. Are you unemployed Joe? My company does market research and we could use investigative employees such as yourself. Focussed aggression!

Frank, Mind your own business. Quit acting like your stupid job is the best job ever.. Grow up. It's NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS if he is unemployed or not.

Your response could not be more untruthful. I worked at 84 Lumber for 6 years and was fortunate to finally be freed. The corporate culture is one made up of drinking, arrogance, ignorance, and inflexibilty. Builders, for years, have frowned upon 84 lumber because of their lack of corporate professionalism... which starts with Maggie Hardy-Megerko. When the company is run by someone with such ridiculous and boorish behavior as her, it shows. Take very high note of the turnover rates at local 84 locations. The people that succeed for any number of years are typically people that have years of experience with another company and bring their own solid book of business with them. I have been in this industry for over ten years and now build my own homes... I would never let anyone from 84 Lumber supply my jobsite with anything. The consensus is the same in our local builder's association. With the exception of one decent sales rep, the entire company is a sham... great financial leadership, but piss-poor guidance and management. STEER CLEAR

I was an employee with the company for 2 years to the day. This company expects every aspect of your life to be dedicated to the company. Don't get me wrong.... I was promoted twice and gained alot of experience with the company. But employee compensation and having a life outside of work are things that 84 will stick their head in the sand for.

I was given crap because I wanted to take 2 weeks off while my wife recovered from the c-section which brought my son to the world. My DM thought I should be in the day afterwords. Then I expressed my feelings about the FMLA and how I could possibly look at his attitude as a form of discrimination and he quickly changed his mind. (My promotions came after my son was born.)
If you were too sick to work and had to call off, you were required to make up your time in lieu of sick time. (Every other industrialized country in the world require sicktime for their employees... The US does not!) Not to mention, but they also made you put a bumper sticker on your car! (This was not an option!)

They took away bonuses and closed stores and took away more bonuses and laid off people and closed more stores and laid off more people......A never ending cycle. They put managers in place that have absolutely no clue what they should do. The ones that know what they are doing end up being forced back into outside sales instead of allowing them to recruit adequate sales staff to achieve more sales. This company has sort of a backwords logic when it comes to promotion and compensation.

84's motto is "Always do the right thing." The right thing is for the Hardy's to sell the company to Lowe's or Home Depot, take the money and run. I have also worked for one of those aforementioned companies and was treated far better than at 84. I'm sure Lowes or HD would know what to do with the company.

To all the displaced employees and those looking to get out.... Good luck and godspeed!!

There is so much to say about 84 Lumber. Just an overview can be found at www.myspace.com/84lumberripsyouoff. Please take a look there.

If you are a former employee please let me know!

Thank you!

That site has been set up to help inform as many people as possible that 84 Lumber lies. They don't hold any promises that they make and will hang you out to dry the first chance they get.

In particular my family was made a promise by MIKE LYONS from Mississippi that our best interest was at hand. It was not at hand when my husband's store manager position was taken right out from under him for no reason but their "will to work" crap after dedicating 5 years to their business. No explanation was ever given to us.

If you are considering a job with 84 Lumber, please think twice. They will overwork you, the pay will not measure up. You will be used for as much as they can get and then put you out on the street! They will make numerous promises they cannot keep and you will be sorry you ever considered working for them, or put in one minute of your time!

If you have any questions, or would like to tell your story of how 84 Lumber ruined your life or career, feel free to let us know! I will not stop until I can let as many people know as possible how my family has been treated from 84 Lumber!

thetruthabout84Lumber in Biloxi, Mississippi said: There is so much to say about 84 Lumber. Just an overview can be found at www.myspace.com/84lumberripsyouoff . Please take a look there.

If you are a former employee please let me know!

Thank you!

That site has been set up to help inform as many people as possible that 84 Lumber lies. They don't hold any promises that they make and will hang you out to dry the first chance they get.

In particular my family was made a promise by MIKE LYONS from Mississippi that our best interest was at hand. It was not at hand when my husband's store manager position was taken right out from under him for no reason but their "will to work" crap after dedicating 5 years to their business. No explanation was ever given to us.

If you are considering a job with 84 Lumber, please think twice. They will overwork you, the pay will not measure up. You will be used for as much as they can get and then put you out on the street! They will make numerous promises they cannot keep and you will be sorry you ever considered working for them, or put in one minute of your time!

If you have any questions, or would like to tell your story of how 84 Lumber ruined your life or career, feel free to let us know! I will not stop until I can let as many people know as possible how my family has been treated from 84 Lumber!

Well I just had an interview with them here in Fla ......so you are saying to stay away? Got a feeling that the Store Manager was blowing smoke up my ass when he said his reps are selling $xxx,xxx/mo and its possible to make $70,000-$80,000/yr.

Yes I am asking you to stay away! I will be glad to share our story with you. My husband was an Iraq war veteran right out of the Marine Corps. Dedicated his career to 84 Lumber for the past 5 years, and was just taken out from under him over night. They will tell you what they want you to hear, but will never follow through with their promises.

They have been going through a lot of re-structuring and budget cuts in the past year. We have never gotten an explanation of why my husband was laid off but without a second thought I can tell you it was a money issue. His hard work and dedication never came into play. I am talking about a store manager here who worked 13 weeks straight from 5am to midnight just to keep the store going after Hurricane Katrina.

I have many others who would be willing to back me up on this company. They have no consideration for their employees, just what they can get out of it.

Also if anyone is suspecting that I may be acting out of anger, this is not fresh, this happened almost 9 months ago.

STAY AWAY FROM 84 LUMBER!!!! It's an awful place to work!

I worked there for 6 years so I'm not pulling any lies out of thin air. To give perspective about the turnover, I worked in a small department of the company (development) with about 20-25 ppl in my building/department. One calendar year, we went thru over 50 ppl. yes, that averages out to 1 person coming/going per week. They just laid off their entire purchasing dept. Even calling one guy at home taking care of his sick daughter to tell him he was being let go. I had one manager that quit after 3.5 days.

Trust me, this is not a place you can have a career. No one and/or their job is safe.....NO ONE.

Even on site trips, Joe Hardy would get pi$$ed off at people and leave them in radome cities in the united states and they would have to find their own way home.

The place is a JOKE.....flat out JOKE!

Anyone who talks the place up just doesn't know what they're talking about. If they're talking positively about the company now.....come see me in 5 years and give me your opinion.

Raymond in Tampa, Florida said: Well I just had an interview with them here in Fla ......so you are saying to stay away? Got a feeling that the Store Manager was blowing smoke up my ass when he said his reps are selling $xxx,xxx/mo and its possible to make $70,000-$80,000/yr.

Actually if you are good that is a low amount. My husband worked for 84 for over ten years in every level in the store. As a manager and a sales rep he made over 100,000 for all but one year and he made 85,000 that year.
He left because he was offered his dream job outside of the lumber business but still has great affection for 84.

I agree I worked at the 84 components in white plains md. I am a black male and we were not aloud to have facial hair besides a mustache (all employees not minorities). The company made you feel like you were a black employee, not an employee thats black. I worked from 7-5 and I didnt do any overtime unless I had to because when I left for the day I would dread going to bed because I knew I would have to go back the next day. If anyone has a choice of working there choose not to. They have a high turnover rate and it is for a reason. They systematically took away all of the little perks that we had at that plant such as casual fridays and eating our desks and eventually made the designers clean the bathroom once a week. Leaving there was the best career move I ever made. Take my advice....RUNNNNNN!

I applaud you for this site.

Oh yeah I did not mention that the components plant that I worked at is closed now. They have a terrible business plan. Its only a matter of time with the high turnover rate and competition of lowes and home depot that they will be blockbustered. I worked there for two years. there is soo much more I wish to say because I hate them but I will light some incense and drink some brandy and play smooth jazz to calm down.

I had 7 years with them, from 73-81. I have mixed feelings, at the time I didn't have the money to go to college and my wife at the time was in college and working. I can say I learned a lot about business, customer service and the building materials industry, but I paid a big price for it. When I left,(on my own)had a very bad taste in my mouth for the whole experience. I have too many stories to share with you here but I can echo much of the negative seen in the comments above. Basicaly I worked myself to death, many days from 5:00am to midnight. I missed a lot of watching my kids grow up, my first marriage ended in divorce mostly from the stress of moving 4 times. I made pretty good money for times, and won 3 Globetrotter trips but all in all it was the hardest, most stressful job I ever had.