Public Wholesale Pricing

[dizzy]

One long-time employee of the store [2+ years IME] told me `they're locked in the van for the weekend, try back Monday'. Asked if there was any way to get into the van ... `I don't think so'. No attempts to try, no `let me see if I can call the guy' ... nothing.

I'm not sure why they couldn't get into the van, but I can sort of understand where the owner is coming from. Most of us work far to many hours and our time away from the store is seriously in deficit. I speak from many years of experience when I say I don't want to be called up and disturbed every time some little something comes along. Life and death or serious situations are fine, but not every little thing. You try working 70 plus hours and having your home phone ring every hour on your day off for silly little stuff. The nicer you are to people the more they want from you. People will call 5 minutes to closing and want us to stay over and wait 30-mintues so they can come get 5 gallons of RO water and stuff like that. It's nice of the store to buy your frags. You should walk a mile in their shoes before you pass judgement.
Mitch

 

[Robwsup]

Day off?!?! What's that?

 

[M_Phobos]

Wait a second...you're entrusting millions of dollars in inventory and equipment to someone while you (the owner) aren't at the store...but you aren't giving them the keys to the van? LOL

As far as getting calls goes....that's a hazard of owning and operating a business...if you don't want to deal with them, hire someone to do it for you. (You're not going to get any sympathy from a former logistics manager at a landscaping firm about working "long hours" in "harsh conditions")

Have relations between LFS and their customer-base become so jaded that neither sides trusts the other anymore? lol

Cheers,
Fred

 

[JennM]

I'm with Mitch on this one.

I'm in my store probably 95% of its open time or more. I live a half mile from the store - by design, so I can be close by if I have a store or customer-related emergency, it's not a huge hardship to come and deal with it. I escape for the occasional weekend business trip a few times a year, and I even squeezed in a liesurely few days away last fall, but the co-owner was here to take care of things. However if I had hired help that pulled that on a customer in need, he or she would be in line for a new McJob the next day. That type of non-service is not acceptable here.

I can see the other side of the coin though too. I worked for another store before I hung up my own shingle, and while the owner was away, a customer had a problem - maintenance guy (employed by the same store) had failed to show up and the tank was in dire need of service. I took it upon myself, after asking the tech to go see to it, and he didn't, to service the tank myself. I actually got in trouble for doing it (because I didn't check with the grand poohbah first - he admitted he'd have had me go anyway). Because he didn't pee on the idea himself first, he gave me grief. I quit that day... that was the last straw in a long line of poor customer service events, and instead of thanking me for taking care of things as he would have, in his absence, I took the door.

I don't care what anyone says, *generally* speaking, hired help doesn't have the same vested interest as a shop owner. I've seen a few folks who are as dedicated to service in any industry, as the one who holds the bag, but they are few and far between. Luckily I have found such a person in my service technician, I don't have to watch her like a hawk, she cares about her clients and the work she does, and it's a great relief to know that my shop is appropriately represented by her out in the field.

But I digress....

The bottom line is, those folks who are showing off their wholesale price lists will have that activity come back to bite them in the hiney sooner or later, either by the vendors whose confidentiality they are compromising, by the franchises who are lending their names to their operations, or by the customers whose quest for the cheapest price will eventually starve them of the necessary margins it takes to properly run a business.

Keep on that high road, Glenn.

Jenn