The Way of the Dinosaur

With Christmas shopping now in full swing, maybe now is not time to think about the shopping experience. No, with consumers on autopilot and the mad rush now on, it is probably not a good time to examine a concept that is disappearing faster than a stack of $200 laptops at 4 a.m. on Black Friday.

Customer service.

What?

Yes, customer service… it’s often all that we will remember come April when the holiday shopping adrenaline has finally worn off. Good customer service is getting scarcer all the time while bad, or non-existent customer service has become the norm. Remember when there were no “self-service” gas stations? Not only was gas less than $1 per gallon, but the attendant did it all - washed the windows, checked the oil and tire pressure… oh, and put the gas in the car too.

Today, gas stations don’t even say “self-service” anymore - it’s assumed.

It used to be that knowledgeable and friendly sales people assisted us in identifying what the right product was - and left us alone when we were just looking. Now they will read what’s on the box and tell us where the checkout is. Stores have become warehouses, parking lots need shuttle service and shopping carts have a two-ton capacity. And let us not forget the “food court.”

There used to be customer loyalty. Sometimes there still is.

I used to buy my groceries at Safeway. The store was large, but not too big, close by and the employees knew me and were always friendly. They did not have the best prices, but they were fair and I don’t mind paying a little more for a pleasant shopping experience. Unfortunately, the “customer-service” people sitting in some cubicle in some corporate office felt it necessary to get involved in what was otherwise a perfectly harmonious relationship.

At the time, I wrote checks to pay for my groceries - usually about $300 per week, every week. Due to a bank error, one of my checks bounced. Safeway put it right back through and it cleared - the bank straightened out their mistake and got the funds back into my account. I was happy, the bank was happy… but someone at Safeway was not happy. They felt that one check - one of about 100 such that went through without any problem - was worth $25 to them.

After explaining there was an error at the bank, my “customer service representative” asked me to get a letter from the bank stating that they had indeed made a mistake. They might as well have told me my word was worthless. I made them a little deal: You forget the $25, and I’ll continue to spend $300 per week there. After being put on hold so a manager could be consulted, the customer service representative told me that Safeway was willing to go the extra mile and credit me… $5.

I have been shopping at Raley’s ever since. Every week for more than 3 years, Safeway has lost whatever the profit on $300 is.

It is not at all uncommon. Perhaps retailers have become too big. Maybe the cost/benefit analysis shows competent customer service is a waste of money. It is not universal - there are still some businesses that remember where their money comes from, but many seem to have forgotten.

The sad part? Safeway doesn’t care. And neither do too many other retailers. Now with Internet shopping where there is no human contact at all, finding competent customer service is getting even more elusive. Unfortunately, many of us do not demand or even expect to be served with courtesy and respect. It has gone the way of the full-service gas station…

Check your oil today?