December 13, 2017 – Attempted Christmas shopping

         We have few local places to shop in town, one [so-called] department store and the rest are discount chain stores.  Most of the quaint and friendly Mom and Pop stores have simply evaporated from this marketplace. I tagged along while a friend who was making – or trying to make an exchange and a return as I only needed one item.

         We were both surprised when we discovered the little gal at the checkout had been employed about a day or two and didn’t know how to do an exchange or a return. Two Sunday’s before Christmas and a major department store has brand new help with little or no training. What does that tell you about that entity? It gets better, what did the new gal want my fellow shopper to do after she waited patiently in line for her turn at the counter?

“Please, can you step out of line so that I can check these other people out?” she had the audacity to ask.  A big mistake on her part, my friend instantly dug her heels in and said,

“No, why should I?”

Of course, my fellow shopper then asked for management and there were no supervisors in the store – they had all gone to lunch. I mentally questioned – at lunch at the same time on a Sunday, two weeks before Christmas, with a store filled with women while their husbands were glued to the football games on TV? Who is running this place?  Or, who thinks they are managing a department store. I had already given them a dozen black marks since walking into the store for poor merchandizing and displays and the lack of quality in their wares.

         This particular department store sends daily glossy newspaper advertising pieces slipped into our small town newspaper and low and behold – the 50% off sale in the dish department . . . they no longer have a dish department now that they have updated the store.  Even if I wanted to shop for some fancy dishes, I can’t unless I drive about 45 minutes to an hour away.  What a joke.  Why do they even have their doors open?

         Their biggest mistake is a serious lack of price tags or signs with prices on them.   They want to “shame” you into buying an item if you have the audacity to ask what the cost is before you decide?  Perfect example, I wanted to price a stand mixer.  Found no pricing on the shelf and no pricing on the large carton.  The store employee had to drag the heavy item off the shelf and bring it to her checkout desk to get the price.  No, I didn’t feel the least bit embarrassed that she was busting her back on an awkward 50 pound box just so that she could tell me a price when the price should have been on the display to begin with and then the price on her computer indicated there was some a $60 manufacturer’s rebate. Why wasn’t the rebate displayed to the public to be enticed?   

So I asked casually,

“And what if I never see my $60 rebate?”

“We can’t do anything about that-that is up to the manufacturer.” 

My remark, “I’m still waiting for a rebate on something I bought in September.”

While my shopping companion and I were in the houseware section, we ONLY saw women bringing items to the desk in order to get a price and no one actually making a purchase. One woman brought two fry pans to get the prices.  The less expensive one was $39.95 and my eyes literally rolled back in my head because you can pick up the exact pan at our big box discount store for half the price, not on sale.  Big deal, this store was offering a 10% discount.  The woman left them right where they were and didn’t buy either when she found out the ridiculous pricing.  I believe the sales gal spent most of her day putting back unpurchased merchandise.

I also noticed that the majority of the women shopping clutched this Sunday’s newspaper percent off coupons looking for bargains and finding few.

         What shocked me the most, there is only one cosmetic sales person at the four cosmetic kiosks which made absolutely no sense to me since it is two weeks before Christmas and it is a Sunday and don’t these gals make their money on commission?  If I were a cosmetic sales person, I would be clearing my personal calendar so that I could make my commission in the season when things are actually selling.  My friend bought something at the cosmetic counter but had to wait in line and deal with a sales person who was not familiar with the brand that she wanted.

        

         It is not a case of the big internet companies reducing their prices to get everyone to shop with them.  I feel it a simple case of mediocrity and ineptitude in our local marketplace that is driving the sane people to shop on line and leave the insane business owners to run themselves out of business by their poor thought processes and management styles.

If I had a long Christmas list, I would be highly disappointed.  But, since I had only one item on my list yesterday, I wasn’t as “put out” as my friend.  I rarely return merchandize once I have bought it, but today, now that I have rethought my purchase, I will be returning what I bought as I can buy the same exact item at a big box discount store for 60% less or shop on line with “free shipping.”  I think it is time to make a stand against mediocrity and ineptitude in our marketplace.

The consumer is always right.

There are 12 days left to shop before Christmas!