"Excuse me...where is the Tropicana orange juice that's on sale?"
Sigh. "I'm sorry, it's all gone. We sold out this morning."
"Where do I get a raincheck?"
Umm, try the Weather Network? "I'm sorry, we don't give rainchecks; it's one of the ways we keep our prices down."
"What are you substituting then? [grabs a 1.89-litre carton] I want this for $2.00."
And I want you to GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE..."Once again I apologize. The Tropicana you're looking for has been on sale since last Saturday. We've sold through nearly 10,800 units. And we ran out of stock--for the first time!--about ten minutes after we opened this morning. And there was a limit of four per family per day on it for most of the ad. We don't substitute products, for the same reason we don't give rainchecks." In other words, lady, you're shit outta luck.
"Well, do the other stores in town have any? Can you call them?"
Let's see, I'm alone here, there are three skids of product to be worked, our system upgrade is belching up glitches requiring my attention every so often--like right now!--and...CUSTOMER SERVICE...CUSTOMER SERVICE...put a smile in your voice, Ken!
"Sure I can, but I'm pretty sure they ran out before we did." Damn, that smile was more like gritted teeth.
And sure enough, both stores were out of stock. So that customer went away disappointed, leaving me in peace for about twenty seconds before the next person said
"Excuse me...do you have any Tropicana orange juice?"
Work me into a lather. Rinse out my brain with soap. And repeat. And repeat. And repeat...
I understand. I do. When something's advertised in the flyer, it really should be there until the end of the sale. And there should be world peace, and a chicken--on second thought, make that a turkey--in every pot.
Every grocery store flyer I've ever seen, from every chain, states somewhere "all items while supplies last". Right next to "we reserve the right to limit purchases to reasonable family requirements" or something similar. It seems like either (a) nobody else bothers to read those parts or (b) they think that edicts like that only apply to other shoppers.
I know customers don't care--nor should they, really--but those Tropicana orange juices that were on sale for $1.00? Each one of them cost us $1.90. A little quick math will tell you we're losing our shirts on this item. In my heart of hearts, I'm actually rather glad it's finally gone. Aside from the fact I can't walk six paces without somebody accosting me on the last day of the sale.
Disclaimer to the above: At my particular store, we make every effort to remain in stock as long as possible, nothwithstanding our warehouse: if they are out of stock, so are we, and there's not a damn thing I can do about it. My customers are at the very end of a supply chain that extends for many links and, often, thousands of kilometers. That chain is only as strong as its weakest link--which you can be assured is rarely ME.
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Whew. Now that that's out of the way...
We had a system upgrade overnight last night. As an In-Store-Trainer, it fell to me to make sure the new system was backwards-compatible...that everything functioned properly before we opened the doors for business this morning. Which means I had to get out of bed at 4:10 this morning. Stipulated: I have always been a morning person. But 4:10 bears a suspicious resemblance to the middle of the night.
As it turned out, I almost didn't need to be there this morning. Thanks to the excellent team we have in place, much of my work was completed before I got there. I spot checked all manner of items, corrected several minor glitches, and then remained "on call" all day, scurrying hither and yon, making sure people knew their new responsibilities, fixing minor scan errors, and telling the multitudes that no, we don't have any Tropicana orange juice.
A fun day. A fun week.
Tomorrow, we have minigolf with our friends Mindy and Jamie--I've taken to calling it "Mindy-golf". On Sunday, Eva's bro is coming to help erect a fence. The slow but steady transformation of our backyard continues apace.
And I'm sleeping in. Until at least six if I can help it.
4 comments:
Luckily for you you weren't the only one asked about the tropicana - I think everyone in the store got that question at least a dozen times today. I also found it funny that a lot of people said "they're out of everything I need!". Yes.. I'm sure they wouldn't need it if it wasn't on sale.
Oh yeah meat dept's scale problems are all fixed now. No worries there.
Shit! Really? you are losing THAT much on a special like that? wow. And is it worth it? I mean, at the end of the day, do you have THAT many more customers so you can make that money back? I mean, I know, I know... I've never really heard of a grocery store going under, if they are half decent, and especially if they are part of a chain, but still.
Greg, yeah...don't you just want to (very politely) offer to take everything out of their cart and put it back for them, since they don't "need" it?...did you fix that scale issue? I wouldn't be surprised...it defeated everybody else.
Flames...yup, you'd be amazed how much money we DON'T make on stuff. Grocery stores by and large make money in four areas: their produce, their fresh meat, their deli and their bakery. In those areas the profit margin can run up to around 40%. Most of the rest of the store is close to break even and some things (like bagged milk) cost the store quite a bit more to buy than to sell. And almost without exception, advertised grocery items are money-losers for the store. They're there to suck you in and make you buy other things.
Grocery stores can and do go under...if competition opens up down the street, if the store is not well run (I can tell you horror stories!), if the chain decides to close them and concentrate on other banners. Sometimes they open up a store and for whatever reason it just doesn't catch. They opened up something called Maxi and Co not too far from the universities here in town...at first blush an ideal location. On second blush...well, for one thing, most students don't buy groceries: they prefer to buy beer and fast food. For another, Maxi and Co is big in Quebec, but people in Ontario had never heard of it, and--funny thing, that--people like to have heard of the place they're buying their food.
No store has ever really succeeded on the maxi & co site. the wholesale club there is rarely busy based on what I have seen. Zehrs used to have a location there and they bought Conestoga Mall's Dominion store and moved it there. Zellers had a location there and closed it. There also were not many homes in the immediate area at the time.. although had they stuck around they would have a sprawling neighbourhood right nearby. You also forgot to mention the Maxi & Co. store lasted only 9 months
Oh yeah, politely offering to put the product back isn't the same as faking a very sore throat so that you don't have to talk to them much. I haven't done that... yet... but I will next time
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