The Importance of Earnest Service

Archive for the ‘Retail’ Category

Service of When Over the Top Marketing Blows Back

Thursday, September 1st, 2022

‘Tis the season which the following note illustrates. The email arrived at my inbox recently.

A contributor wrote: “I’m bombarded by both [political] sides and they cry disaster in order to coax $$ out of one’s pocket. I think I could recite all of their ploys, which include ‘weeping’ ‘last request’ (yeah right) ‘losing’ ‘packing our bags’ ad nauseam! One request started by trumpeting that I am an ’embarrassment.’ I liked that one so much that I pressed the unsubscribe button. Don’t count on those ads to relay real news — their motif is not fact, but enrichment.”

If you’re reading this post I bet you receive such missives especially if you’ve ever sent a politician even just a few dollars. They must sell donor contact info.

It’s not just political campaigns. I’m a former subscriber to a magazine whose publisher sends countless emails with drastic discount offers. Make sure, if you fall for one, that you’re signing up for more than just a few issues. These offers culminate with “this is your last chance.” For today maybe or until next month or perhaps in celebration of St. Swithin’s Day [July 15].

Clothing brands with dedicated stores and e-commerce operations use the same ploy. “Some discounts as large as 70 percent!” “Sale ends tonight.””Add another 40 percent reduction!” You can be certain that the cashmere sweater you coveted was sold out in every size and color two sales ago.

Were this approach not profitable we wouldn’t be bombarded. I suspect the cry wolf sales approach–“there will never be another deal or opportunity like this” or “without your money we’re doomed”–works for some while it irritates others. Where do you fall? Have you succumbed to the pressure of “now or never” or “Your $10 will make all the difference”?

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Service of Handy Tips

Monday, August 29th, 2022

I suspect everyone has received frequent lists of tips forwarded by friends via email or has seen them on social media.

Here are a few of mine:

Ask the cashier at Target for the Walmart price. Here’s an example of an indulgence–ice cream that costs $10.99 a pint at a local grocery store–costs $7-something at Target. The Walmart price–the one I’ve paid–has ranged from $4-something to $6 and change, depending on the day.

Baking soda and white vinegar cleans residue off my coffee pot, the once white inside of often-used ceramic teacups as well as glassware with a clinging shadow of red wine.

This one addresses a longtime pet peeve–when someone asks me to call them back in X minutes when they are postponing a scheduled call. Can’t they call me? I used to waste that time concerned that I’d get involved in another call or project and miss the new appointment. The timer on my phone comes to the rescue. I can forget the call until I hear the buzz. This helps remind me of all sorts of things.

When making piecrust the quality of butter makes a huge difference. Use a well known brand and pay more if you must otherwise the dough is unmanageable. It’s also worth the money to buy Bounty paper towels: You’ll use many cheap ones to pick up a mess vs. one sheet of Bounty,

If you want to know what’s going on in the world of retail, you’ll enjoy a chuckle as well as well-researched, honest reporting at WarrensReport. Warren Shoulberg writes it. As he put it, he “knows home furnishings retailing. As a career business journalist, he has covered the good, the bad and the ugly of the industry, focusing on the home furnishings segment but also reporting on the broader business of retailing and wholesale distribution.”

What are some of your favorite handy tips?

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Service of Apathy by Volunteers, Employees & Corporations

Thursday, May 19th, 2022

Merchandise at Target to celebrate Memorial Day

A star volunteer just described a successful fundraising event she chaired with such enthusiasm and joy it was a delight to hear as well as a relief.

That’s because I’ve observed that many are dragging at their tasks lately. What once were teams of vigorous volunteers in chambers of commerce, industry associations, charities and parent teacher groups many appear, in the last few years, to have given up. They have lost their magic. Their behavior reminds me of a childhood game of hot potato only it’s adults are passing the responsibilities and tasks–not spuds–on to the next person to follow through. This person has no energy either. I suspect that many of the ones who gladly rolled up their sleeves became tired of carrying the ball for the chronically lethargic.

It’s not only happening for volunteers. Last week at a Manhattan branch of Target I noticed a vivid example. I was shocked to see favors, decorations and American flags to enhance Memorial Weekend celebrations tossed in a sloppy heap in a bin. There were no empty shelves to merchandise them properly although someone might have arranged them artfully, using the metal basket openings to hold the larger flags giving more room inside to neatly stack the wreaths, garlands and packages of small flags.

And what about the United States Postal Service? Yes, I still send bills and cards by mail. I feel constrained by the change that happened silently in my neighborhood. Where there were as many as 3 pickups at some postboxes, now there is only one at either 10:00 AM or 11:00 AM. The postman who delivers to my building told me his buddy’s job is to pick up the mail from these boxes and he has nothing to do all afternoon. As a customer, it’s more than irritating and I feel that the service is exhausted and doesn’t care. A 4:00 PM or 5:00 PM pickup would be better if there is only one.

Have you noticed apathy or enthusiasm lately in the way people are carrying out tasks whether as volunteers, corporations or employees?

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Service of a Fickle Retail and Restaurant Landscape: What Should Go, Stay & Return?

Monday, April 25th, 2022

There are some businesses that deserve to close and it’s no surprise when they do. I thought about this on a walk in my old neighborhood when I saw that a once terrific restaurant that had gone severely downhill had finally closed. Supposedly serving French bistro fare, the last time I went the bread was stale. Impossible! When it first opened in a hole in the wall the food was scrumptious. It moved, gussied up and was never the same. It deserved to close long before the pandemic took it down.

I’ve previously written about the demise of Loehman’s the discount women’s fashion store, for decades one of my favorite haunts in its heyday. Long before it died it had lost one of its most ardent fans: Me. [Observing my devotion and purchase successes my father almost bought stock in the place.] Buyers for the chain suddenly acquired cheap and lousy clothing and where once it offered a magnificent choice of handsome coats and glorious evening wear, the options in its final years were paltry and the quality unacceptable.

On the other hand, the pandemic felled one of my favorite stores, Copenhagen-based Flying Tiger, erased from the US market. A quick visit would cheer the grumpiest person because of the variety store’s quirky, fun gifts and party favors at incredibly reasonable prices–stocking stuffer paradise all year ’round.

Jasmine, a pet Chinese restaurant on east 49th Street, NYC, didn’t make it through the pandemic either.

Can you identify businesses that lasted long after their sell dates and others that you mourn because they had to close while they were still so very much appreciated?

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Service of Formal Entertaining: In Fashion or Wishful Thinking?

Thursday, March 17th, 2022

We're breaking out of pandemic mode, some more gingerly than others, into unprecedented inflation, a zigzagging stock market with war on the wings. When, last week, I passed these Bloomingdale's windows dressed for spring I had, simultaneously, contradictory reactions. One was a flashback to a time people gave formal dinner parties not associated with Thanksgiving and other traditional gatherings--me included. Perhaps the store's tabletop team had hopes of inspiring Easter and Passover celebrations, the next ones up. St. Patrick's Day's corned beef and cabbage, as yummy as it is, doesn't evoke gold rimmed plates.

So who would buy these elegant dishes and wine glasses? Young people aren’t interested in things much less luxurious ones, and many older people, who might want them, already own them. Friends tell me that they have a hard time passing on family heirlooms to their offspring.

I asked Google for the items that top bridal registries and for March 2022 they are, in this order: Cookware (nonstick skillet, sauté pan, pasta pot, saucepan, etc.); Bakeware (roasting pan, casserole dish, baking sheets, loaf pans, muffin tins, etc.); Knives (serrated knife, paring knife, chef’s knife, etc.); Cutting boards; Dutch oven; Cast iron skillet; Stand mixer and Food processor.

I thought “that can’t be right! Not a plate?” and hit “more” which led me to Sarah Zlotnick’s article in brides.com, “The Ultimate Wedding Registry Checklist.” Under “Dining and Entertaining Registry Ideas” she lists: Everyday dishware (eight to 12 settings—dinner plates, dessert and/or salad plates, bowls); Everyday drinking glasses (eight to 12); Mugs (eight to 12); Flatware (eight to 12 settings); Steak knives (eight to 12); Wine glasses (red and white); Champagne flutes; Salad bowl and serving utensils

Serving bowls, platters, and trays jump in at the end and the Specialty glassware (margarita glasses, martini glasses, rocks glasses) and Colored Stemware.

I loved to dress a table because it was fun, I liked to look at something pretty and I felt that it said to my guests, “I wanted to honor/please you.” I think that I should invite over some friends and do a table up round even if I’m ordering in Chinese, Mexican or pizza. Maybe manufacturers should promote their products this way rather than in the same old same old. The market has been stagnant for them since well before the pandemic. I wonder if, like changing dress and skirt hem lengths, the fashion for formal entertaining will ever return just for the fun of it.

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Service of Above and Beyond

Thursday, March 10th, 2022

Though service sometimes seems to have its dry spells, lately I’ve experienced a riches of the best, even if I had to nudge one instance along.

Old Fashioned Service

As you could tell from my last post I’m not thrilled with the lifting of pandemic mandates with so many unanswered questions and inconsistencies. For example, if the pandemic is over and face coverings useless why are they required anywhere? Which businesses and organizations plan to continue to check vaccine status?

To find out I left a message at the Metropolitan Museum of Art members department last week to learn if the organization was still asking for proof of vaccines. I never expected to hear from anyone. I’ve left messages on voicemail at other places before, such as on my councilman Keith Powers’ [followed, in his case, by an e-mail], and never heard back. Hence the surprise when a cheerful woman called Tuesday to tell me the vaccine restriction at the Met is gone. Oh well.

White Glove Service 1

I just came from Staples looking to replace the mouse for my laptop. I know, I know–I should use the touchpad like 99.9% of the world but I don’t. The young man I lucked into tested the mouse I brought–extremely polite asking if it was OK before heading to the back. He thought it was fine yet I still wanted to buy a backup and I said that it would be worth $20 to me. “Oh, you don’t have to pay that much!” he said handing me one for $13.99. He wished me good luck, hoping there wasn’t something wrong with the laptop portal [me too] and we had a brief discussion about the beauty of old gadgets that work perfectly well. He was in his 20s, hip enough with his long hair, and yet an old soul in this regard who gets five gold stars for service.

White Glove Service 2

Where I live, once a year handymen check the 510 apartments to change AC filters, confirm that smoke detectors work and so forth. All tenants know is that the inspections will take place between certain hours over a matter of weeks. That didn’t suit me. I wanted to know the day they’d come to my apartment, at the least.

I make use of every surface including the AC/heating element covers where plants sit so I planned to move them–but when? The staff slide open the covers to switch out the filters. And for countless other reasons, with advance notice, I could be sure to be home.

So I found out who was on the inspection team and tracked one of them down, asking him for a heads up the day before they’d land on my floor. I handed him a note with my phone and apartment numbers. They warned me and more, giving me a choice of times and they arrived on the dot! I was prepared, they were in and out in short order and everyone–especially me–was happy.

Have you enjoyed service that was above and beyond lately?

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Service of Perfect Customer Care: A Michaels’ Cashier Wins

Friday, November 26th, 2021

As I write on Black Friday I think about Angela, a cashier at Michaels on Sixth Avenue and 23rd Street in NYC. If she didn’t love her job she gets my kudos for being a great actor.

I’d waited to pay in a long line for noon on a workday. She greeted me with an angelic smile befitting her name and asked if I had any coupons. I said “no.” She asked if I was ever a Michaels member. I had been when I lived upstate three years ago. She told me to type in my phone number on their website. It worked.

To save time, she expertly directed me from memory to click the right spots on the site. Boom. I was recognized and got a 20 percent discount.

Meanwhile to protect the item I was buying she’d quickly wrapped it in paper as carefully as a gift. She didn’t ask me if she should.

Not once, when I thanked her, did she say “no problem,” two words that drive me nuts. She would have been one of the only service people who had reason to as in all ways she went beyond the strict requirements of her job which was to ring up the sale and hand me my purchase. When I thank a person who has done her/his job, “no problem” is irritating and inappropriate.

I hope you run into an Angela as you find a perfect gift you hope will please. Have you already?

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Service of Planning Way Ahead

Thursday, September 30th, 2021

Does everyone plan way ahead these days?

As early as August people had rented homes and hotel rooms to gather with family members for out of town Thanksgiving celebrations.

Daily we’re warned to buy Christmas gifts now. Wait and we will be unable to purchase the ones we want.

Michelle Fox at cnbc.com reported that a creditcards.com survey forecasted that 27 percent of holiday shoppers plan to start before the end of September and 13 percent started in August. In addition to bargain shopping and threats of rising prices that inspire early purchases, supply chain clogs and shortages of computer chips and other key components inspire shopping now.

Toys are particularly at risk. Fox wrote: “Some Lego advent calendars are already selling out, Ellsworth noted. Other hot items include Squishmallows and a plush toy of the Morris character from the Marvel movie ‘Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings.’” Kate Ellsworth is the executive editor of commerce content at Reviewed.

Lisa Baertlein, Reuters, reported in mid-September that “A record 60 container vessels are at anchor or adrift in the San Pedro Bay, waiting to be unloaded at the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach seaports and another 20 are due to arrive in coming days.”

An article on thedeepdive.ca reported; “According to data from the Bank of America cited by CNBC, overseas shipping container costs have significantly ballooned since the beginning of the pandemic.” The article: “Costco Warns of Higher Inflation Ahead of Holiday Season, Dismantling ‘Transitory’ Narrative.” Reporter Hermina Paull continued “A 40-foot container shipped from Shanghai to New York was priced at approximately $2,000 just over one year ago; now, that price tag has soared to around $16,000.” She predicted that with upcoming holidays consumers should expect to cover such increased costs.

Have you noticed that people are making plans unusually early this year whether holiday related or otherwise? Are “buy early” warnings real or an attempt to stimulate or increase sales? Are you shopping early or resorting to gift cards? Is this a one-off due to the pandemic or may we expect it for years?

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Service of Installment Plans: Another 2008 or Am I Being Elitist?

Thursday, September 23rd, 2021

I wonder if we are facing another potential financial debacle brought on by the kind of spending without ability to pay that caused the 2008 mortgage catastrophe. The red flag I’ve identified is small potatoes compared to mortgage debt, but in the aggregate could be significant if the bottom falls out. The buck stops somewhere.

According to AnnaMaria Andriotis installment shopping is back and going strong. The Wall Street Journal reporter wrote the article: “Amazon Is Doing It. So Is Walmart. Why Retail Loves ‘Buy Now, Pay Later.’ Retailers big and small are using installment plans to wring more sales out of shoppers who can’t get credit cards.”

Andriotis reported: “Buy-now-pay-later companies say they rely less on—and in some cases bypass altogether—traditional credit scores and reports. Doing so allows them to approve more consumers. Shoppers gain the ability to buy things even without cash on hand—translating to higher sales for retailers.”

Bypassing traditional credit scores and reports so as to approve more consumers are danger signals if history shares a clue. We’re talking about sales increases due to installment shopping of $8.2 billion this year.

“Shoppers spend more at Macy’s when they use installment plans offered through Klarna Bank AB, Macy’s CEO Jeff Gennette said on a recent earnings call,” wrote Andriotis. “Klarna also is helping the retailer attract younger customers, he said.”

She reported: “Interest rates and other terms vary by payment-plan provider. Affirm interest rates range from 0% to 30%, with some 43% of its transactions during its last fiscal year not charging interest at all. The company doesn’t charge late fees. Afterpay doesn’t charge interest but does collect late fees.”

Andriotis wrote: “Merchants take no credit risk with these plans, but the fees they incur can be higher than on credit-card purchases—often between 3% and 5% of the purchase price, according to people familiar with the matter.”

I’ve always questioned the “buy now and pay for your sofa in two years,” concept. After all that time who wants to pay for something that may already be marked by coffee stains?

I’ve increasingly noticed websites that offer the option of paying for an item in four parcels even if it costs $20 or less. Only if you are desperate for diapers, detergent or TP and have maxed out your credit card can I understand welcoming the opportunity for small amounts. Naturally these customers have a credit card to buy online but the enticing installment model is similar.

When will we learn? Haven’t we seen before what happens when customers can’t pay for the purchases they incur while benefiting, in this case retailers, who pass the debt on to another company–with low standards–that takes the financial risk? What will the tipping point be?

Am I being elitist by suggesting that if ineligible for a credit card you shouldn’t put nonessential goods on an installment plan but should wait to buy them when you have the cash? Do you also predict potential trouble ahead brought on by a buying frenzy based on another opportunity to push payments ahead or am I seeing canaries that are only snoozing in a coalmine and are not yet dead?

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Service of a Summer Saturday in New York

Monday, August 23rd, 2021

This door was open at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Saturday

Cosmetic Market wasn’t open even though the sign says it should be

On a short walk this Saturday I found one door open–that hasn’t always been lately–and one closed, that shouldn’t have been; an empty space where there had been a building last I looked; a Swiss chocolatier with enormous slabs of candy and an outdoor restaurant that looked like it had been transplanted to Manhattan from Europe decades ago.

I don’t blame Cosmetic Market, [photo top left], for being closed until noon on a summer Saturday. Who is in the city anyway? However it might have noted the revised schedule on the website.

I’ve tried to drop in to St. Patrick’s Cathedral in the afternoon during the week and its doors have been locked. As with Cosmetic Market, there is no information on the website or posted outside the cathedral about the hours it is open. However I could enter when I passed by two days ago and a security guard told me it shuts weekdays around 1:40 pm but should increase hours after Labor Day.

There’s a huge amount of construction going on in the city yet it’s always a surprise to come upon a cavernous hole on a major artery, this time on Fifth Avenue and 46th Street [photo bottom, left].

I’ve passed branches of Läderach chocolatier before. The slabs of sweets always catch my eye. I wonder if anyone buys an entire block, how it would be packaged and if they’d ever finish it.

I love walking past Avra Estiatorio restaurant on East 48th Street. The lush landscaping on both the restaurant and curb sides make it one of the most appealing sidewalk eateries I’ve seen. Management pays equal attention to the trees and flowers next to the street in view of diners as they do to the immediate surround. The sidewalk in between is immaculate.

In August folks expect to see photos of ocean, lake, or mountain views–all wonderful. My city escapades are fun too.

What has caught your eye this summer as you took a stroll or a ride either near home or on vacation?

Fifth Avenue and 46th Street where a building used to be