Shops - Downturn (OT)

[Bruce]

I agree. There just aren't enough good ones to go around, and few if any available on the jobs market.

[Appin]

The message from Owain contains these words:

Depends on your phone plan. Phone calls don't necessarily have any marginal cost, unless they're to 0870 or 0845 numbers.

[Appin]

The message from Rod contains these words:

Can't say I've had that problem. Their suit sizing seems to work well for me. In any case, nearest Post Office is 1/4 mile away. Nearest M & S is more than 40 miles away and no parking within easy reach.

[meow2222]

Good staff are made as much as found. Its not hard to do.

The business also needs ways to pick up on demotivation - this unintentionally ruins many a good employee.

NT

[Tony Bryer]

There's a very good book by Julian Richer, of Richer Sounds fame, in which IIRC he says that retail staff stay an average of 10 months in any one job. So they have barely got up to speed before they move on. So, he points out, most shops have a less than well trained staff and spend a load of money on hiring and training. His philosophy (has anyone worked there to confirm) is to pay well, treat staff well, and make work a fun place to be: by doing this you get enthusiastic people and keep them, whilst your rivals are fixated on what the minimum wage is and can you get away with paying less.

[Owain]

With emails there's less room for argument about what was said later.

Owain

[The Medway Handyman]

Fire Auto Marine. That was back in the late 60's, couple of my mates had their car insurance with them. He tried to leg it back to Ceylon IIRC but they wouldn't have him. Think he got 10 years.

[chris French]

Whilst I tend to prefer email, sometimes, a phone call can sort things out straight away instead of multiple email exchanges, and sometimes the phone is the only way to get sense.

[Dave Liquorice]

Not on items I've bought "as new" but have been returns. A kettle that leaked, the fact it was wet inside when I opened the "sealed" box should have been a clue. Sound card that was horribly noisey and another persons scribblings in the manual.

Eh? The return will have had a refund paid. The new sale will just bring in the same margin but with the added expense of staff member(s) taking it back, issuing refund, checking, repacking, restocking on the EPOS system etc.

What I object to is being sold something at full price and "new" when it it isn't. Bung it on a "Managers Special" shelf with a reduced price and label saying why the item is there and I can make an informed decision to buy that item knowing it is used, ex-display, missing box/manual/part or WHY. Failing that there are plenty of companies about that sell "returns" by the pallet load, sometimes checked sometimes not. It's called being open and honest with your customers.

[Bruce]

The story is here:

[meow2222]

Trouble with 'making work fun' is it means working at a fraction of the speed people can reasonably do. Very true that long retention equals ability though.

NT

[Steve Firth]

Utter c*ck.

[Tim S]

[e-mail] coughed up some electrons that declared:

Though I see the complete reverse far too often. The keen and conscientious employee who is ground down by continuous dick-headery.

This may manifest as:

a) Preventing an employee from adding (even trivial) improvements to their workflow (the "we've always done it this way" or "I don't want to go out on a limb, so get head office approval")

b) Endless and needless bollocks: reorgs, politics, mergers.

c) Turf control, even by peers.

Then again, I have worked mostly for the government and universities. But I'm assured all are quite existant in the commercial sector.

Cheers

Tim

[meow2222]

cowboy practice :(

Eh? It depends on the size and buying policies of the business, but frequently they wont be returning bad stock to the supplier who either sold it to them trade, exported, or auctioned. While it doesnt make much sense to put in the labour required to test a low value sound card, for some goods inspection and repack does make economic sense.

Well, I'm all for choice. Many people do choose dishonest suppliers. Some bother to find out first, some don't. Realistically its not about to go away.

NT

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember F saying something like:

Shithole. In the above situation, have people lost the ability to speak up against the idiots? A bit of Rab C is just what's needed.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Dave Liquorice" saying something like:

More like, "Dirty bastards can't be arsed to go and scrub up a bit."

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Owain saying something like:

Amazon have this amazingly cost-effective on-tap delivery system for the final leg. If Waterstones were to do that for every book that needed to be delivered internally, I suspect their margin might be seriously chewed up, and having more vans on the road, ditto.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Tony Bryer saying something like:

Perfectly normal with every shopkeeper I've dealt with in the UK. Tends to be more in the specialist market - cameras, hifi, etc, but not one of them has ever refused me.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Dave Liquorice" saying something like:

In some cases, that's the way it works. B&Q supplied some PIR carriage lamps, with a 50% failure rate - on looking at the boxes, it was obvious they'd been returns. I hadn't bought them, was just fitting them.

I (luckily) have space to play this game and always keep the boxes. I scrawl on them in big FO indelible letters, the date of purchase and how much warranty. I've not had one refused yet.

[Owain]

No, it can just mean the employee has worked out to do the minimum without getting fired.

Owain