Why is home depot color orange

If you want to learn more about why Home Depot employees wear aprons as uniforms, what were the first Home Depot stores like, and much more, keep on reading! The co-founder, Bernie Marcus , believed that bright orange aprons would stand out like a beacon to customers, and so these were made the uniform for store employees. Poe, and is exclusive to Home Depot stores. While it may not look as functional as the traditional Times New Roman, it certainly adds flair and character to the store.

It was designed to mimic the smudgy edges you can get after painting to add to the home improvement atmosphere of the store. He removed the white name tags, and encouraged workers to write their own names on their own aprons.

Ron then developed this further by creating a tradition of employees adding some of their personality to their aprons with pins and badges. It was a way for employees to share their accomplishments in customer service, and since then, the designs have consistently improved. Despite ambitious plans to open such footprints over the next several years, they only managed to launch six before deciding to focus on other growth areas.

Every Home Depot ground troop is issued a customary orange apron for easy identification and to keep concrete dust from ruining a perfectly good Van Halen shirt. In two instances, associates lifting heavy items got them inadvertently caught on the smock, leading to a loss of balance and shoulder injury, respectively. The company subsequently allowed workers to take the aprons off when loading rental equipment.

Probably lots of loose nails, cell phones, and assorted grit. But when former military man Robert Nardelli took over as CEO in , he required that employees keep something else in their pouches: a copy of How to Be Orange Every Day , a page booklet with breezy tips on how to better service visitors.

Nardelli resigned in Poe, it may not be quite as functional as Times New-Roman, but the slightly smudged edges are reminiscent of an afternoon paint job. Putting to shame all of the performance artists who have filmed in IKEAs and people camped out in Walmart lots, an alley cat named Depot can probably claim the record for most time spent living rent-free in a retail location.

As of , the feline has been lounging around a South Carolina Home Depot for 13 years, greeting customers and spending much of her time luxuriating in the garden department. After word circulated the store might evict her because she kept setting off security alarms, online protests led a company spokesperson to declare Depot had tenure.

Not all of Home Depot's squatters are adorable. In August , a customer in a Saint Clair, Pennsylvania store was surprised by a rattlesnake in the gardening department. While management summoned wildlife officers, the snake helpfully barricaded itself in a cashier enclosure. No one is sure how the snake got inside. Wyatt said that customers ultimately began seeing the value of the chain's rock-bottom prices. Business began picking up thanks to word of mouth.

Early employees of Home Depot were thrust into a "very busy" environment, where some associates were working 80 hours a week to get the business off the ground. As it grew, Home Depot began swiftly onboarding more employees — mostly young people.

Wyatt described the "quick hiring process" of the early stores. According to her interviews with one early employee, however, the rushed hiring process did feature one startling wrinkle: a polygraph test. Wyatt said that Marcus and Blank consciously decided to avoid replicating Handy Dan's "culture of fear. A lot of the big ideas that we have in our stores have come from our associates.

An early store manager also observed Marcus' commitment to fulfilling shoppers' needs, according to Wyatt.

She explained that the early days of Home Depot were characterized by "decision-making on the fly" and "doing what it takes to make the customer happy. And the founders' ideals rubbed off on employees. Wyatt told Business Insider about tracking down a company "urban legend" about one of the early warehouses that turned out to be a true story.

The Home Depot was located in a building that had once housed a tire store. One day, a customer of the building's previous tenant came in to return some old tires. The manager apparently hung the old tires by the cash stand, as a monument to the store's devotion to customer service. For you. World globe An icon of the world globe, indicating different international options. Get the Insider App. Click here to learn more.

A leading-edge research firm focused on digital transformation. Good Subscriber Account active since Shortcuts. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders. It often indicates a user profile. Log out. US Markets Loading H M S In the news. Home Depot first opened its doors in