Theft, It's A Problem

When it comes to working in retail, I find it interesting that prices are unbalanced and tend to change consistently . After working in retail as long as I have, I have finally realized why this happens even though this is probably just one of the many causes that affect it. 

It never stuck me; just how much loss there is to a business when it comes to theft. I mean yeah, I figured it was a part of it and everything, but you’re never realize just how much until you actually are being affected by it. 

Being the one who works in a retail store, I am constantly finding product coming up missing, or numbers are not what there supposed to be for balance on hand. 

It’s almost to me like a losing battle; the more we try to prevent it, the more they out do us and find a way to steal. Some thefts are cleaver, some are not, some get caught, a lot don’t. That’s just it, people think once they do it, that they are invisible and can’t be caught. Well to an extent they get away with it, but eventually it will catch up to them in some sort of way. 

Its funny cause working in retail you almost can tell who comes in just to steal and predict the time they will too. I’ve always been fascinated by the courage these people have when it comes to stealing product. They could care less what time it is, what they are stealing and how it affects others. 

My fascinations has somewhat over the years been turned into a job for me and I actually enjoy finding the people who are trying to steal, only problem is, that it’s not my job to. I hope one day to advance in my level with the company and be one of our Loss Prevention Specialist. Those ways I can help keep those prices down.

Payday Thursdays



When it comes to getting paid, there's no more rejoice then having that cold hard cash in your hands after a hard weeks’ worth of work.

Now, some of you may get paid every other week, so the joys of having that cash may seem a lot more joyful when getting paid.

As to the title post "Payday Thursdays, I work in retail and we get paid every Thursday and that's the reasoning behind the title.

So with this post I intend it to be themed day post for Thursdays, no matter if you get paid another day, I will still post mine on Thursdays, just comment yours on it when possible.

With regards to this post, have you guys ever felt like your check goes right back to the very same place you just received it from? I know when I receive my check, I actually end up spending a big portion of it right back at my work. I know, I also feel like I spend all my money really fast and sometimes I'm so shocked and wonder where it all went.

So with this post I want to encourage you guys to have fun and comment the first three thing you spend your pay check on.

Also out of those first three things, how many of those are things you’re buying from your work and what importance to do they have to you?

So please go ahead and share your spending habits and share why those items are important to you. All you have to do list the first three things you bought weather there from work and put them in the order of importance. See example below of mine

EX:

Grocery’s $75.00

Gas $55.00

New Clutch $120.00

When it comes to the first three items I bought after receiving my check. I had to buy grocery’s so I spent my first 75 at work and then of course I need Unleaded gas to get to work so I spent 55 on gas and then I needed a new clutch for my bike which cost me 120.



More Time For Your Buck

 

Some might be wondering why I start off this blog with a picture of a clock. Well, when it comes to time, there are only 24 hours in a day. Each one of us plans our day accordingly, by the time in which we have. Planning a majority of that 24 hours for sleep and the rest to go about our daily activities.  There are only so many hours that people can decided to designate each hour to.

With that being said, no one wants to waste their time. And as far as I’ve seen, the company I work for doesn’t want you to either. So how is it that we help you manage your time better while in our store and get in and get out? Well, oblivious to a lot of customers we have taken a costly program to reduce your wait time at the checkout lines and get you on your way.

This program consist of heat sensors that tracks every customer that comes in and out of the store and records and saves that information, so by the time you reach the check lanes it tells us how many check lanes to have open and what to expect for the next 30 minutes. It’s a great tool and feature we use that a lot of customers don’t know about.

Even with this tool we are still human and have mistakes and can’t be perfect. Yes there are times we lack the staff and presumably forget to look at what it’s telling us to have open. But at least I can say we are doing better than are competitors like Wally world or across the street at other local markets.

We strive for the best, so when we see customer’s comments about check lanes not being open and nothing being done. Its hurts to know customers think we are doing nothing to try and solve this.



Image credit: www.sapling-inc.com

Real Life As It Is

When thinking about a blog, I wanted something that would be inspiring and keep people interested with the topic at hand. After several thoughts, I came to a clever conclusion. Why not involve some kind of topic that is related to my work. This is something I am very familiar with and that many other people experience on a weekly basis.
 
I wanted to know what others think and how they view certain situations from their perspective as opposed to mine. I work in retail at Kroger’s and am constantly dealing with customers and try to provide the best possible service to them that I can. 

Within this blog, I hope to develop a way to interact not only with customers, but also employees elsewhere in the customer service industry. I would like to hear about other's experiences, and see the similarities between theirs and mine, if there is any.

I want to be able to hear people’s thoughts and reactions as to why or what their experience was during their visit to my store or any store in general and see what they had to say.

I have had to deal with customers, mostly dissatisfied individuals, who have been displeased and upset over the service they received. Sometimes, I find it quite interesting that the customer tends to believe that they have the best answer to all the questions as to why certain problems existed during their visit.

The Kroger company's core value states that the "customers is always right", I almost always agree with them, knowing in the back of my head the real reason a certain situation may have occurred might not be the exact reason the customer believes it to be. But either way I have to acknowledge them and make them happy.

We run the store in a certain way so that our customers receive the best service. Unfortunately, not all customers are going to agree and you can only do so much to satisfy them. I’m not here to blame anyone and say that they are wrong for thinking they are right as to why they might of had a bad experience, but I’m here to explain how and why we run the store the way we do.