Our stores do the passed through billing also. That means that some plants get inventoried and dumped into a fenced-in dumpster so the store gets credit for them from the unfortunate wholesaler. I tried hard to get a HD to sell me some plants last week that were perfectly good, just slightly wilted. Nope. They were going to a dumpster and I wasn't allowed to dumpster dive. The store was making room for mums. Sometimes, (for example Bonnie Plants) the wholesaler comes and takes the plants back. That's how whole racks disappear overnight, Frilly. I get almost the same visceral feeling seeing plants in a dumpster as I do when I see those Humane Society ads on tv.
Didn't see Danita's post before I posted this...