The Lowes home furnishing chain is expanding its microwave in an effort to combat its worst-ever flu pandemic, which killed an estimated 5.3 million Americans in 2016.
The company announced on Thursday that it will begin offering a low-cost microwave in the U.S. on January 1, with an additional 20 percent discount in January 2019.
The plan is designed to help low-income families stay home and avoid the high cost of owning a microwave.
“While this is a big improvement for us and our customers, we recognize that our customers’ needs are unique and different,” said CEO Jim Fauci.
“Lowes Home Furnishing is a leader in providing affordable, quality home furnishings to our customers and their families.
Today we’re adding this affordable low-price microwave to our line of microwave products to help lower-income Americans stay home.”
Fauceis microwave is expected to provide more than 5 million customers with free household heating and cooling, as well as refrigeration, dishwashing, and dishwashers, for a total of up to 20 million households, the company said.
It will be available in all of Lowes’ outlets.
In a press release, Lowes said the new microwave will be more affordable for low- and moderate-income households than the low-priced microwave it replaced in 2019.
“We are excited to announce that our microwave will become available to low- to moderate-wage households on January 3, 2019,” Fauces said.
“The microwave will also be able to save customers up to $50 on their next bill.
It is also one of the most cost-effective ways to provide our customers with more affordable home furnishes, including free home heating and free cooling.
Our microwave is also an excellent choice for people with pre-existing conditions, like diabetes and obesity, who need a more affordable option to heat their homes.
In the coming months, we’ll expand the availability of our low- or moderate-priced low-and-low-price high-efficiency microwaves to more households and will continue to expand our offerings.”
Fausci also said that Lowes will expand the offer of its low-end kitchen counter top sinks to help the low income population.
The first of these sinks will be installed in December 2019, and a second is scheduled to be installed by the end of 2020, the statement said.
Lowes announced its plan to offer free household heaters and free household cooling in 2017.
The Lowe kitchen counters are expected to become the first appliance to be available with free and low-power heating and a free cooling system for people in low-wage or working-class households, who currently can’t afford a free fridge.
(This story was refiled on January 10 to clarify that the Lowes refrigerator is the same model as the low price microwave.)
