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The reason why Kroger does this is because Senior Management does not want any customer to spend more than 2 minutes waiting in line. Senior Management wants the checkout time to be as quickly as possible. Senior Management wants the store to make as much profit as possible, and in their eyes, long lines means less profit.The reason why I know this is because I work at Kroger as a cashier, and several weeks ago while I was working on a Saturday, I saw a report left at the register I was working at.
The report used metrics to measure several data, and one particular data type was the wait time at the registers during certain times of the day.So that is why there is someone directing customers to the fastest line.
I understand perfectly well why they do it. But I also think that it assumes that the customer is too dumb to figure out which line is shorter.
Again, please note in my previous post that I think Kroger is an excellent chain. Far better than Safeway or Albertsons (now combined) or Giant in the D.C. area, but not up to Wegman's standards.
Another example of good customer service is at, say, a plumbing supply store. You bring in a failed part and a knowledgeable counterman is able to find a replacement part.
Or you want, say, a replacement sacrificial anode rod for your water heater but the tank is in a closet so you ask how can you get the part out and put in a new part without pulling the entire tank out of the closet ... and he tells you that you don't need to pull the tank; you should be able to run the worn-out rod up through the flue and he has a special sacrificial anode rod that looks like sausage segments connected together that is bendable so you can use that as the new rod.
In contrast, some place without good customer service... well, the employees know how to operate the cash register and not much more. Ask them any question of substance and they get a blank look on their faces.
And that is a great example of why customer service is fading. The people that know what they are doing want to pay $10 for the part and have someone just ring it up, not pay $12 so the store can hire plumbers to tell you how to do it yourself. The marketplace has said this loud and clear by the fact the big supply stores that provide cashiers and low prices have decimated the stores that provide experts and higher prices. I'd bet that 90% of "customer service" expense goes toward the needy 10% of customers. The small profit a store makes on an item doesn't cover the cost of telling you how to install it. That cost has to be subsidized by the majority who doesn't need handholding.
In a broad sense, turning on the lights relates to "customer service".
Actually, yes. A well lit store is beneficial to customers, as compared to one that is dark and dreary.
According to one definition: "Customer service is the act of taking care of the customer's needs by providing and delivering professional, helpful, high quality service and assistance before, during, and after the customer's requirements are met."
I provide exceptional customer service at my job, mostly because I have the power to do whatever I want within reason. Still, there is always people who don't like when a rule isn't bent for them when they want it, and that makes me question everything and wonder why they feel so entitled. I hate telling people no, but sometimes they really do create their own problems despite being told multiple times how things work.
Competence, honesty, and respect are generally on the decline, and these issues exist on both sides in my experience. For every employee merely filling the vacuum of the staff roster or passing the proverbial buck along, there are one or more customers who are unable to be satisfied in perpetuity either due to individual ignorance or simply because an intrinsic character flaw doesn't allow them to be anything other than problematic.
In a broad sense, stocking shelves does relate to customer service. Let me give you a couple of examples.
I do most of my grocery shopping at Kroger stores (it happens to be King Soopers here). Lately, I've walked away from my weekly shopping very annoyed since some of their sale products and even regularly priced items were not stocked.
Kroger has a person that stands near the checkouts and directs people to the fastest line; in my view a rather silly job. So I went up to the person and said, "I'm looking for "product x", but the shelf is all empty". The item I was looking for was a rather obscure product. She immediately said, "Oh, sorry, we're all out." There is no doubt in my mind that she had no idea whether there was more back in the stock room. It was just a lie.
Another time I asked to see the manager. I said, "A&W root beer is my favorite soft drink. Please don't put it on sale any more." He said, "That's a strange request." I said, "Every time it's on sale, the shelf is empty." He said that couldn't be true. I said, "Every time".
Another time I asked the produce manager where the "fresh white mushrooms" were. He said, "They're right here." I said, "No, those are brown and mushy. I want the fresh white ones you advertise and show in picture." "Well, you know it's winter, and mushrooms don't grow well outside in the winter." I said, "Do you think customers are all stupid? Generally, mushrooms are not grown outdoors. They're grown inside in conditions that are sort of like a hot house, except the environment is controlled in a different way." He didn't know what to say. I continued: "And so now, since I really want mushrooms, I have to drive to Safeway or Fresh Foods where they almost always have MUCH better mushrooms than here. So, here -- you can take my grocery cart and put what's in it back on the shelf while I go elsewhere." Well, he sure didn't like that.
So, in the broader sense, the stocking of shelves is customer service. And time and time again at various stores, including Best Buy, when their shelves are empty of what I want I get the, "We can order it for you," to which I generally reply, "Or I can go on Amazon and order it for myself and have it delivered to my door. Which is just what I'm going to do." They get a customer, and they blow it.
To be fair, despite my bitching about our Kroger chain, Kroger runs a good ship, and -- other than Wegmans -- may be the best supermarket chain in the country.
And this right here is a big reason you see empty shelves, because employees have to spend so much time cleaning up after the customers and hence, have less & less time for stocking and being available for customer inquiries.
Leaving your cart for some employee to empty & re-shelf items in no way punished the manager for the horrible crime of not understanding mushroom cultivation. All your little hissy fit accomplished is the manager calling for the nearest overworked employee and giving them yet more work, which had the domino affect of then taking that same employees focus from stocking those same shelves you customers ***** about being empty.
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