SOT: An Amazon trick

[dennis]

8<

These are probably the best for diy but they aren't cheap on amazon..

Don't use a hacksaw if you can avoid it.

[Marland]

When they first started to open counters there was no real need for a sign as a purchaser who did not really know what they wanted or how to use something stood out a bit amongst the builders and could be intimated by the impatient shuffling of feet and sighs of exasperation till they moved their ass, I recall when the Southampton branch had recently opened and old chap around 70 who may have heard the place was cheaper than many went to the counter ,produced a door handle and asked the assistant if he could advise on what would replace it, he got short shrift ? We are here for people who know what they need sir, If you want to look at things and ask advice there is B and Q not far away. Now days they seem to have mellowed a bit with occasionally a member of staff on customer help duty. In a way a shame ,bit like Lidl becoming acceptable to the majority which means the practice of reloading into the trolley at speed and transferring items into bags at the packing shelf has almost ceased.

GH

[Bob Eager]

Indeed. I find the same at Aldi. The staff (including my son) seem quite irritated by it.

[Archibald Tarquin Blenkinsopp]

Irritated? It seems logical to me, I dont use a trolley, but the general speed of Lidl and Aldi attracts me every time.

On the rare occasions that I use trollys, chucking the stuff in and sorting at the window seems obvious, although I usually sort into the car hatchback.

You do get the odd idiot that cannot understand the basics, like the purpose of the divider on the belt, but it's a quick system.

I used to use Asda, but the staff were too interested in chatting amongst themselves to serve the public.

AB

[Bob Eager]

Sorry, I mean irritated by the customers who can't grasp the idea. I pride myself on the speed I reload my trolley!

[whisky-dave]

On Saturday, 4 August 2018 03:40:34 UTC+1, Archibald Tarquin Blenkinsopp w rote:

Probbalty the worst I've seen was when I got anancestry DNA kit in the bask et also appear a monthy £50 option that you had to deselect, then it r e-appeared in the basket a few days later. Could have been something I clic ked on but I don't think so

It's annoying but I've since got used to checking for it.

Yep a pain, never defaults to the truely free option.

[whisky-dave]

But being in the trade isn't typical DIY. If yuo're in the trade then the a mount of time you spend collecting things gets added to the price and thos e doing the job would normally get paid for collecting the parts and any ha ning around waiting for them. As a DIYer (unless retired) going to the DIY store to colelct things means doing so after work rather than part of yuor work.

then you have to pay someone to sit on the trade counter probbaly 2 people at least.

I doubt there's a market for that sort of thing setup. if yuo want to learn how to drive you don't walk into a car showroom.

Intresting the approach of the forst $1 Trillion company has and they have lots of haters as well as lovers of the way they go about things.

[whisky-dave]

I think we know the ideas we just don't like it.

I picked the stuff off of the shelves, usually the heavest first in the bot tom of the trolly or more usualy basket so I donl;t squash the more delicat e and lighter stuff. This then goes on the convey belt. Now because the lighter stuff is at the top I don't want to shove it back i nto the basket 'I'm still taking stuff out !, so after taking it all out an d getting it scanned I now have to put it al back in the basket, then take it all out again and put in bags !, no way.

Same thing when a store as 20-30 till points and only has a few open. Once when in a large checkou queue I went up to one of those that looked li jke a manager and said , you can either employ someone to take my money or they can put my shopping back on the shelves your choice and I but the bask et on the floor and left. When I first left school I worked in a supermarket and I was told we are th eir to serve the customers once they've completed their self service, we ev en on occasion helped pack their bags and carry them to the car.

For me it takes as long as it takes.

troble is some shops have such small areas for packing it makes things wors e, especailyl the self scan.

[Andy Burns]

They still seem to encourage it here, if only by piling things from the belt to the little shelf at full speed, I notice they've usually scanned a few items of the next customer's items while waiting for the previous one to pay or even while the previous receipt is still printing.

[michael adams]

And there's yet more to look forward to.

Lidl have now introduced self service checkouts at some of their smaller stores, while closing all the staffed checkouts.

Highlights.

As well as the standard beep the machines also uniquely make a burp sound when items are passed across. The purpose of the burp isn't obvious; but it can make the burp without making the beep. Which can cause confusion when items are placed in the bagging area without having first been properly scanned.

When paying by card and following the onscreen cues, the customer can have inserted the card, tapped out the PIN and be withdrawing the card when the machine announces "please put the card into the card reader and follow the instructions".

Once finished the loudspeaker helpfully reminds the customer "please take your shopping and your receipt." This presumably is to deter people who might otherwise be tempted to spend all day in there, standing staring at the machine.

The queues at these machines can get very long.

It maybe goes without saying that having dispensed with both hand baskets and trolleys in the smaller stores, Lidl instead supply the large plastic drag around baskets. Whereby all customers using such baskets have to reach down to floor level to retrieve items at the bottom.

michael adams

...

[charles]

This doesn't just happen at Lidl. It happens at every self service check out I've met: M&S, B&Q, Sainsburys, WHSmith.

which is why I used a real trolley on Saturday.

[Theo]

I don't have figures, but I suspect by value the trade buys more than the DIYer does. Screwfix, TS etc are serving both trade and DIY market, but the DIY market seems to be leaning towards 'get someone in'. The shifts in the housing market (more people renting, people not buying until their 30s, Part P) mean there's less opportunities for DIY even for those willing to do it.

Really Screwfix/TS are just trade counters without all the sniffiness about not having an account, thinking up prices on the spot, etc.

If you're in the trade mail order doesn't work, because you haven't got time to hang around at home waiting for the courier to turn up. The client is not going to pay a day's labour for that, even if they might pay for an hour to run past Screwfix/Jewson/Travis Perkins/etc on your way to the site.

In EuroCarParts it's the same backoffice people - do the counter when they're not answering the phone.

That model could be interesting BTW - same day delivery of stuff to site, when you really need an XXX in a hurry, run out of a Screwfix/TS branch. Do any of the builder's merchants already do that?

I mean Screwfix is doing much better than B&Q. Eventually B&Q may die as being too costly to operate, not enough punters who do DIY, and completely avoided by the trade. Maybe a few B&Q may hang on in hotspots, but not the idea of one in every town.

Theo

[michael adams]

A quick check reveals that both Leatherhead and Dorking Lidl's have special offers on DIY tools which hardly qualifies them as "smaller stores". Or perhaps you went further afield ?

michael adams

...

[charles]

No I didn't. Leatherhead has been using drag along baskets for quite a few months. I have been to Dorking recently.

[whisky-dave]

Yes I agree, there's a local matchbench to me they open early and close ear ly I doubt they could stay open just for DIY it;s more a trade place than s crewfix or B&Q. Spend £100 on paint 10% discounts been up for 30 year s now. B&Q has come and gone, screwfix just opened and toolstation nearby.

and.

So what do you do if yuo are at work all day give up DIY until you retire.

they just add it on to the job.

europarts isnlt quite the same.

No idea and don't care and it's irrelivant anyway.

How many times has anyone been told we don't have the part we'll order it.

In what way ?

The local building company used B&Q I saw them in there asking me what was best to use as wood filler. I dind;t know and said so but guessed the more expensive product might be more suitable than theb do anything economy fill er, so that;s what I told him.

Not from those takign over DIY jobs.

My local one has closed down but there's another a 2 or 3 a couple of miles away.

[charles]

In article ,

[Snip]

go on your day off - I'm sure you have one. Screwfix are even open on Sunday!

[michael adams]

The point I was making that was in "smaller stores" Lidl had dispensed with both hand baskets and trolleys.

As you didn't visit a "smaller store" on Saturday, a fact you failed to clarify in your post, I fail to see how your using "a real trolley" has any relevance at all, to the point I was making.

Or perhaps you can ?

michael adams

...

[Theo]

*If you're in the trade* you pick up from a branch. If you're a DIYer, you pick up from a branch or mail order. The latter is subject to the usual parcel delivery rigmarole (sorry-you-were-out, we-put-it-in-the-wheelie-bin-for-safekeeping, we-took-it-to-the-depot-in-Vladivostok, you-can-collect-it-from-the-lockers-in-the-local-seedy-garage-but-not- when-it-doesn't-fit, etc).

Good luck explaining to the client it was 3 days labour: two on site and one sitting at home waiting for a delivery.

Screwfix is bad for that - TS is better because they have a much smaller range.

"B&Q total sales declined by 5.3% to £3,488 million reflecting annualisation of the completed store closure programme. LFL sales declined by 2.8% after a 0.7% benefit from sales transference associated with the store closures. LFL sales of seasonal products were down 2.8% while sales of non-seasonal products, including showroom, were also down 2.8%. [snip] Screwfix total sales increased by 16.7% (+10.1% LFL) to £1,515 million driven by strong growth from the specialist trade desks exclusive to plumbers and electricians, strong digital growth (e.g. mobile +86%; click & collect +38%); and the continued roll out of new outlets. 60 net new outlets were opened, taking the total to 577. Our overall target is to have around 700 outlets in the UK."

B&Q = shrinking, Screwfix = growing

Theo

[Theo]

I don't reload my trolley, I pack as I go ;-P

1. When walking around the shop, grab some empty boxes. There's usually some in the fruit and veg section, or a cage where someone is filling a shelf elsewhere
2. Empty your shopping onto the belt sorting as you go, heavy things first, chilled stuff together, fragile things last
3. Line up your empty boxes in the trolley
4. When the checkout person is throwing stuff at you, throw it into the box in the trolley. When a box is full, put another box on top of it, repeat
5. Pay and go, no need to repack
6. Transfer filled boxes into the car
7. At home, boxes go in the recycling when they've been emptied

Theo

[charles]

I hate the drag around baskets for the reasosn you mentioned. I missed the bit about getting rid of trolleys, too.