Saturday-8 :: No Deposit, No Return!
written @ 3:24 p.m. on 2003-10-25

Saturday-8 :: No Deposit, No Return!

Welcome to this week's Saturday 8. As the holidays approach and stores get ready for the onslaught of consumers, we propose a new kind of store. One where you can get in and out without annoying lines, where you don't have to stand behind a little old lady returning her toaster from the 60's because it finally stopped working or the guy returning his 20 year old turntable for credit towards a CD player. A store where unaccompanied/unwatched children are escorted outside to a holding pen. In short, a store where you can get in, find your item, get out and on with your life. In an effort to create such a store we've prepared a market survey to see how consumers such as yourselves would respond to having such a store in your community. Please be honest and elaborate on any answer you wish to share your opinions on. Hopefully we'll be coming to a city near you soon!

1. All products come with a manufacturer's warranty. Anything you buy that has a problem will be replaced by the manufacturer. Knowing this, would you shop at a store with no customer service desk? If no, what if they had a UPS Store or similar shipping counter that would send it to the manufacturer for you?

I never look for a service desk now, so in the perfect store in all other regards, I pobably still wouldn't.

2. Would you be willing to do without a sales team roaming the floor trying to help some of the customers if the item you were interested in had a full and complete description listed? For example, a computer would list every part in it, the specs of each part, descriptions of all the software as opposed to bullet points taken from the side of the box.

I would, as long as the price was included in the description. On of my biggest pet peeves is no prices on the products or the shelf.

3. If you entered a store that was organized more like a grocery store, having each area clearly labeled as to what products are sold where and not just by category, would you refrain from asking where things are?

I only ask, if I really honestly can't find something that I have throughly looked for, and the same would go at any well labeled store.

4. Often we find ourselves waiting in line behind the person that feels the need to update their checkbook ledger at the register or they are a checkwriting challenged. Therefore, would you shop at a store that only took cash or credit?

Yes, I don't carry cheques with me, ever. My store does not accept cheques, nor do most I know of.

5. Stores loose money when customers do not pay their bill. This cost is passed on to you in the form of interest rates. Would you obtain or use a store card where they refuse to sell you any merchandise, regardless of payment method, until you've settled your delinquent bill?

I don't know. The only things we ever purchase on credit are big ticket items, and that is pretty rare. Quite often, if not always, we don't go back to that store more then once a year(example: our living room furniture was bought on credit and will be paid in full in about 2 months, this was almost a year ago, and we have not been back to the store because we don't need any other furniture).

6. Often stupid or ignorant consumers clog up the works for the rest of us. In order to weed out such consumers, would you be willing to shop at a store that treated these types of customers like they deserve? Some examples:

Q:Where are the telephones?

A:If you can't read the signs, you shouldn't be in here.

Q: How would I hook this up to my television?

A: You read the manual or find someone smarter than you to do it for you.

Q:You people aren't very helpful, are you?

A: Only to those that deserve it.

Nope, I admit I find these kinds of questions annoying when they are asked of me, but in the end it is the stores employees jobs to answer them and unless the customer is respected the store does not deserve the customers money.

7. Most stores force you to shop at their hours, only extending them during the holidays. If there were a store open early in the morning (from 5am - 10am for example), closed during the day for cleaning, tagging, stocking etc., and reopened at evening (4pm - 11pm for example), would you find that more suitable to your shopping hours? If not, what would be a good schedule?

There is a store here with those kinds of hours. They gear for rig workers, and rig workers need to be abke to do there shopping before 7 in the morning, or after work. Either way this does keep their customers happy(including my husband).

8. Finally, when a store closes, it's closed. Lingering customers not shopping or rushing to buy trivial things like film or batteries just get in the way of those that have been there the last hour trying to complete that HDTV purchase. Would you shop at a store that refused entry to new customers 30min before closing, warned you that the registers close exactly when the store does and basically ushered everyone out of the store once it closed, purchase complete or not?

No I would not. Sometimes things come up, I know this as a customer and as the person working at the till, either way I find it extremely rude to shut out those that want to give you money in exchange for products and services, and am sure that there would be a store down the street that would be happy to take money in exchange for staying open an extra couple of minutes.

We feel having a store without customer service, not wasting payroll on sales staff when you know what you want and can help yourself if given the information on the product, filtering out those that clog the shopping experience for the rest of us is in fact giving you a place to get done what you need and on with your lives. After all, you're shopping for something to take away and use in your life, not for the experience of sitting behind someone asking the difference between a CD and a DVD. Your survey will be reviewed by our home office and your comments incorporated into our business philosophy design of a new store, hopefully coming soon to your hometown.

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