I'm Melting, I'm Melting

I'm in a unique position at my job at a major corporate store I'll call Drears. Working in my lowly cashier position, which is dead easy and uses approximately 2% of my brain, allows the rest of my brain to sit back and observe the meltdown of a major business in corporate America. Basically, "they're doing it wrong!"

The managers in what is known as the "flagship" store are not given power over things that could make a real and significant difference in their bottom line numbers. As a matter of fact, they are given power over things that really reflect little over the bottom line of their stores and yet these managers are held responsible for store performance on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.

Let me give you a perfect example of a simple thing I was told the store manager has zero control over that effects his bottom line - store climate control. I was told by a supervisor that each store's temperature is determined not by the ambient weather outside nor is it within the store manager's control, but is rather a predetermined program of dates of running the heat and air conditioner regardless of the outside or inside temperature. So how does this translate to the store's bottom line? All winter long, no fans were running to circulate air within the store and with hundreds of kilowatts of display lights and many holiday shopper bodys in coats within the store, there were many complaints about how hot it was in the store. I had many customers tell me it was not hot at Marshall Field's, Penney's, Nordstrom's, etc.

I observed many customers I waited on dripping sweat and looking very pale from being over heated. Many customers, in frustration, slammed items on my counter and left without making purchases or came up to me and specifically asked me to tell the manager the reason they were leaving early without making purchases was because of the store temperature. Anyone who has ever tried on garments knows it is hard work and makes you hot too so that also adds to the problem. Now that summer is upon us, it is the same story only worse because in the winter an occasional cool breeze would come in through the door and that is no longer the case. So tally up all of the lost sales at the counter, those lost sales from customers who left the store, AND the lost sales of the customers who remembered how unpleasant it was last time and decided not to return to the store and you come up with a tidy some JUST FROM THE HEATING AND COOLING SYSTEM.

We have yet to address any important issues that are lacking in the store like ontime delivery of stock and stores, meaningful training of staff and inservicing, management training and inservicng, marketing coordination and delivery at the store level, low espree de corps within the work force leading to high turn over (high HR costs), up-to-date IT, and many more items which are key to making a retail business profitable in today's cut throat arena. There are other retailers who appear to have better profitability and I consistently hear from customers while they are waiting for something to be approved by a supervisor, "No wonder you were bought out by L-Mart!"

I am just a barnicle clinging to the bottom of the big ship Drears. However, it gives me a great position to take the time to watch as all the shipmates scurry about trying to keep the ship pointed in right direction and the sails filled with wind.