Why is the economy a mess and businesses going under? A reason. by Bob Hubbard

[Bob Hubbard]

Why is the economy a mess and businesses going under? A reason. by Bob Hubbard

Why is the economy a mess and businesses going under? A reason.
by Bob Hubbard

I recently got married. As part of that life's journey, one contacts a number of businesses and key people to make the day run smoothly. We contacted several facilities, visited 3. We received no call backs or follow ups from any of the places, other than the 1 we ultimately chose. We contacted several photographers, and were waiting on a promised call back from one when another contacted us out of the blue. We went with her and its a good thing we did as we still haven't heard from the one who promised to call us. We left messages with several dj's, tux rental places, and 2 hotels. Not a single call back. Are you seeing a trend here? All over the place people are crying "business is down", "I'm not sure if I'll make it" and similar. Yet we had a hard time finding anyone to take our money.

We stopped at a local fast food chain the other day. Place was empty. We waited 5 minutes before walking out, as no one felt like taking our order. Cleaning the back counter was more important, as obviously was the smoke break. A few days earlier, another chain store, we got indifferent service, mediocre "food", and a shrug when I complained about it.

Last year I made several calls to the management of a local mall, looking for information about possibly renting space there. Despite calling every day for 2 weeks, I never managed to reach the one single person there who could talk to me about anything rental related. He was always "just stepped out" or "gone for the day". I finally asked if he ever comes in, and when the person expressed surprise, I said I'd been calling all week, leaving messages and hadnt heard back. They said that was common. The mall has quite a few vacancies. I wonder why. Another local mall has a waiting list as it's full. They answered their phone and were available to talk. Big difference.

A couple months ago a family member had a plumbing emergency. We called at least a dozen plumbers (with the 24 hr service ads) before reaching a live person. We left messages at the earlier ones, and not a single one ever called back.

The economy may be shaky, a few large companies may be facing ugly restructuring, but the core of the economy has always been the small businesses. Maybe the reason why the core is seems to be rotting lies with the core it self. Maybe, it's shooting itself in the foot by failing to follow up, provide quality service and a quality product, and failing to follow through. Maybe, the solution to the economic mess isn't trillions in bailouts to a few big names, but for consumers to find and reward those companies that do go the extra mile, that do care about their product, that deserve to survive.

Maybe then the slackers, drifters, and such will wake up and step up, or die out like they deserve to make way for the real economic stimulus.

 

[Empty Hands]

Observational bias is always a problem in these things. I've had pretty much the opposite experience. I can't even think of the last time someone wasn't there to take my money. Which of our experiences most accurately reflects the wider picture? Who knows. But I would hesitate to blame our economic woes on "slackers" based on your personal experiences. That's what data is for.

The one exception is when the service rep takes your number and says someone will call you back. That never happens. Fool me twice and all that, I don't take that line anymore.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Well, there is an old saying, "your mileage may vary" LOL

 

[jks9199]

Tried to stop off and grab a sandwich at a national chain tonight. I'm not a fan of drive-throughs; they usually take longer, and have more headaches getting orders right. So I park. Go in. This is at 6:20 PM or so... Lots of folks coming home at rush hour, and the place is right off the interstate.

ONE clerk at the counter. And this guy is having trouble with someone else's order consisting of a cup of coffee and 6 cookies. Something about this was apparently difficult to understand. Meanwhile, the line is growing from 2 or 3 to 6 or 8 people...

I finally got fed up when someone walks up, and apparently feels that refilling the napkin dispenser is more important than selling food to customers. :shrug:

 

[Bob Hubbard]

I've been in 2 Wendys, 4 McD, 2 Subway's in recent weeks, and had bad experiences at all of em.. I'm more amazed when they get it right, do it fast, and it tastes good.

I called 2 -big- Camera stores for gear yesterday and today. 1 was "out of stock, don't know when it'll be in, might be a few weeks, might be longer, call back n check" by comparison, the other had it in stock, walked me through various options, and put up with my dumb questions. Guess where I went? While there, they put up with more dumb questions, and made a possible long term customer if they keep it up. I paid -more- there than at the other guy, or if I bought it from Amazon, or Adorama, or BH. Service is key, IMO.

 

[Stac3y]

Varies by where you live, too. I grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and compared to there, Bob's OP sounds like great service--at least there was no overt hostility. Lived in New Orleans, and it was even worse. I live in South Austin now, and it's rare that I encounter that kind of misbehavior. Then again, I don't go to fast food places much, and I stay the h-e-double-hockey-sticks OUT of the mall. North Austin can be pretty bad, though. I don't know why it's different in different places--any anthropologists or sociologists out there?

 

[Sukerkin]

It's an interesting point with regard to the value of customer service, Bob.

I concur with EH's caution that we can't simply draw large conclusions from our personal experience {tho' that doesn't seem to stop us in the main :lol:} but I have to say that good service is rare enough for it to attract comment. It also attracts custom, which is why I feel it to be one of the most underated principles of business.

As with Bob's comments above, I have 'gone with' or become a repeat customer to establishments that provided good service, even if they were more expensive.

An example is the chap who laid the foundations for my garage. He turned up on time (or early) for every appointment along the way, showed me courtesy as the customer and gave me advice on what I needed and what would be most cost effective ... oh and he did a great job. So when I needed a fence building, you can guess who I went to.

This can apply on a larger scale too. The company I work for recently won work to the tune of £6.5M on the basis of our having achieved a score of 100% on service and performance criteria (over the lifetime of a previous fifteen year contract).

 

[girlbug2]

Out here on the Left Coast my experiences with customer service this past month varied widely. The cashier at the carwash stood outside the door chatting with another employee for several minutes while customers piled up in his line to pay; but every restaurant we went to provided excellent, attentive service, fast food places most of all.

My sister is getting married in December, so I was recruited to vet out reception sites here ( she lives in Texas). Every venue responded promptly and courteously to my inquiries, so eventually we went with the one that offered the most information and was willing to customize their standard packages to fit our budget. OTOH you'd think florists were doing us a favor by explaining their pricing.

When I get bad service, it's rare for me to complain; I usually don't have the time to wait for a manager to appear--in fact very often, the general failure of service employees to make an appearance is often the very reason for my complaint to begin with! Too bad for those companies, I'm sure it would benefit them to know why people are walking out and business is down. Perhaps more active supervision is the only way managers will get a clue....not likely.

 

[Grenadier]

ONE clerk at the counter. And this guy is having trouble with someone else's order consisting of a cup of coffee and 6 cookies. Something about this was apparently difficult to understand. Meanwhile, the line is growing from 2 or 3 to 6 or 8 people...

I finally got fed up when someone walks up, and apparently feels that refilling the napkin dispenser is more important than selling food to customers. :shrug:

Frustrating indeed. My last fast food meal was at Burger King a few days ago, when it took them 15 minutes for me to get my breakfast.

However, a lot of times, the blame doesn't lie with the cashiers, since each of them are assigned to a specific register for that day, and if the manager decides that he only wants one cashier on duty, then that's all that's allowed. No other cashiers are allowed to fire up their registers, and take orders, if the manager did not allot them the time. If the manager didn't unlock the register for use, then nobody can really do anything.

The guy sweeping the floor, or working the fry station isn't allowed to do any kind of cashier work, even if he were capable of doing so, if the manager didn't unlock the register.

Many times, managers who want to cut costs as much as possible, end up cutting the wrong corners.

 

[jks9199]

Frustrating indeed. My last fast food meal was at Burger King a few days ago, when it took them 15 minutes for me to get my breakfast.

However, a lot of times, the blame doesn't lie with the cashiers, since each of them are assigned to a specific register for that day, and if the manager decides that he only wants one cashier on duty, then that's all that's allowed. No other cashiers are allowed to fire up their registers, and take orders, if the manager did not allot them the time. If the manager didn't unlock the register for use, then nobody can really do anything.

The guy sweeping the floor, or working the fry station isn't allowed to do any kind of cashier work, even if he were capable of doing so, if the manager didn't unlock the register.

Many times, managers who want to cut costs as much as possible, end up cutting the wrong corners.

But... I don't care whose fault it is. I care that I didn't get dinner...

I worked for many years in retail. When I was there, the entire staff was encouraged to step up and solve a problem or help a customer. In fact, during my years there -- they actually stepped up the emphasis on customer service, "empowering" the staff with more authority to address customer complaints.

I realize that not every employee is a cashier. But that doesn't mean that the girl with the napkins couldn't have pointed out to the manager that the line was getting long. Or that she couldn't have said something to the customers. (Actually... sadly, I suspect that there was one reason. Language. But that's another issue...)

When customers walk out, the business loses.

 

[Nomad]

It's an interesting point with regard to the value of customer service, Bob.

I concur with EH's caution that we can't simply draw large conclusions from our personal experience {tho' that doesn't seem to stop us in the main :lol:} but I have to say that good service is rare enough for it to attract comment. It also attracts custom, which is why I feel it to be one of the most underated principles of business.

And it applies to nearly all business. When I was looking for somewhere to train, there were multiple possibilities. My wife actually called around and made first contact with several of them. One place called her back within a few minutes of her leaving the message, answered her questions politely over the phone, and invited me to come in.

I'm now in my 8th year of training there and have two daughters in the program (for 6 and 3 years respectively). That was a very valuable call (business number forwarded to personal cell phone of one of the instructors).

 

[yorkshirelad]

I can't think of a time when I last got bad service. I haven't been to a fast food joint in many years, but in retail, I always get stella treatment. I went to Home Depot (B & Q for the Brits out there) a couple of days ago for a project my wife has nagged me about for months. I'm useless at DIY, so I asked for help. The assistant at HD, Jeff, literally spent an hour and a half collecting materials for me and explaining how to do things.

I have many stories like this. My wife and I go to three restaurants regularly and all the staff know our names and usually what we want. It's not that we are great tippers, we're just average customers, but for some reason, we always get great service.

Just thought I'd chime in.

 

[GBlues]

I think the biggest problem is a lot of these businesses are starting to think that they are wal-mart. The service at wal-mart is the worst I have ever seen anywhere!!! Look, wal-marts apparent business model works like this, (from my experience only), " Let's put 40,000 cash registers in the place, and then only have 3 cashiers running them. THen to really screw with the customers we'll make two of them 20 items or less, and the one regular one that we have open we'll leave the light off so the customer thinks that it is closed. This will keep them in the store longer and make them buy more. Then we'll pay our employees dirt cheap, so they won't want to provide customer service, and just slave through the day at crappy wages. How you ask will we get customers??? SImple we'll just tell them that we have the cheapest anywhere, guaranteed. But wait, we actually aren't all that much cheaper, and most of our food stuffs suck, but guess what, people are stupid they'll believe us anyways."

Course I have seen people defend wal-mart on this forum, and tout how great and cheap it is. But then they complain about the customer service. Well, then why not go to safeway, or fry's there customer service is way better, and they actually aren't that much more expensive than wal-mart. Yet for some reason we all keep going to freaking wal-mart. Why is that? Kind of throws that whole customer service is key to keeping customers right out the window doesn't it. Cause wal-mart is kicking the living crap out of safeway and fry's in the money department. Why is that? Because they told us they were cheaper?

See, it's everybody trying to be like wal-mart that is the problem. Give as little customer service and appreciation as you can, and take them for their money and then treat like a thief the whole time they are in here, and then rob them blind at the cash register, and then ask to see their reciept when they walk out and in some cases go through the stuff they have already paid for that now belongs to them. CRAPOLA I SAY!!!! DOWN WITH THE TYRANT!!!!! LOL! But I think you guys get my point. Wal-mart started this whole thing. I blame it all on them, the economic collapse, the bad service, and the food that makes me run to the bathroom 4 times a night. SO I 99.9% of the time shop somewhere's else. Unfortunately, sometimes I just don't feel like driving the extra 3 miles somewhere else.

 

[matt.m]

Ya know I am picky about where I go. I will put it this way, if I need something quick then it is to the chain I go and ask "Which isle" right off the bat. When I happen to drop into fast food I usually stop at a gas station for a brat or something of that nature.

If I need something important I always get the consensus of my friends before going to get product x. I really have no thought of "Good Service" when I go into fast food. It doesn't exist, I am a fan of Steak N Shake, it is what it is.

 

[rocksham]

The whole mess began with people living outside their means, and many are now paying for it. Not all off them, but much of the credit was predatory lending to people of that ilk.

 

[Thesemindz]

The whole mess began with people living outside their means, and many are now paying for it. Not all off them, but much of the credit was predatory lending to people of that ilk.

I don't doubt that there are predatory lenders.

But there are also predatory borrowers. When you borrow money you know you can not repay you are preying upon the lender of that money. Lenders don't make loans so they can lose money. They make loans in the hopes that they will make a profit off of the interest on the loan. That's why they charge higher interest rates on higher risk loans. Ostensibly, it is so that they can make back their investment and collect their profit on the loan up front in the form of higher interest payments, in case the borrower later defaults and leaves them holding the bag. When a person borrows money without the ability to repay the loan, they are creating a hardship for the lender.

Now, I'm not going to go crying for the poor bankers, although there are many small local banks which are suffering as a result of the current economic crisis who may collapse. They didn't deserve this any more than you or I or any number of people unrelated to the mortgage industry deserve to be suffering in this economy. But the fact remains that there are predatory borrowers.

I know someone who left the banking industry because she couldn't stomach giving loans to people she knew would be unable to repay them. The borrowers didn't care, because they intended to default anyway, but knew that it would be years before they would be held accountable by the courts, and even then they wouldn't have much to lose. And the lenders didn't care, because they knew the government would back the loans in the long run anyway. So we end up with a system where there are predators on both sides, and no accountability for anyone's actions.

And we act all shocked when that leads to disaster.


-Rob

 

[Thesemindz]

In referrence to the OP.

I went out to dinner late with my wife last night. And before we ended up at McDonald's of all places, we tried to go to three other restaraunts we actually liked, only to find that each of them had reduced their hours of operation and were already closed. Because of the decrease in business, the restaraunts were closing earlier to save on labor, which caused them to lose more business.

Minimum wage, domestic spending, and government regulation goes up. The government prints money without restraint in order to fund its social, military, and political endeavors. The currency loses value in correlation to it's printing. At the same time, consumer spending lessens, and businesses begin to cut capital investment, which further reduces overall economic activity.

There's a word for this.


-Rob

 

[DocWard]

Living in where I do in Ohio, I see great service, mediocre service and awful service. Whenever possible I try to buy locally, and whenever I run across a business that has good service, I make sure to tell family and friends that might have an interest. The way I look at it, if I like them, I have a vested interest in their success. I also don't mind paying a bit more by going to a business that has good service.

 

[Lisa]

Every February we go to Toronto for a shooting match. On Sunday evening after all the shooting is done, meetings are over and awards are handed out it is custom for us to head out to the restaurant across the street, it is a bit pricey but the whole team gets together and has a great meal with exceptional services...at least that is the way it used to be.

This past February's visit was a different story, food was cold, waitress rude and Manager didn't give a (insert flowery adjective here). There were 21 of us @ approximately $30/person...do the math.... all of us had what food we did have comped and walked out irritated, hungry and disgusted. Found out the place was under new management. His attitude sucked big time and it trickled down to his staff.

Next year I doubt we will even go back. Sad, really as we always enjoyed that place as a final celebration dinner to a great weekend.

Customer services is number one. Small business' complain about not being able to compete with the "big guys" like Wal-mart, etc. But when you can't get good service where else would you go, except to a place that is cheap and usually able to find someone who can help out, even if it is just a 16 year old kid willing to help you take your new patio furniture out to your car.

 

[Stac3y]

Living in where I do in Ohio, I see great service, mediocre service and awful service. Whenever possible I try to buy locally, and whenever I run across a business that has good service, I make sure to tell family and friends that might have an interest. The way I look at it, if I like them, I have a vested interest in their success. I also don't mind paying a bit more by going to a business that has good service.

I do that, too, and I also report excellent service at places like grocery stores, etc (big places not known for their service) to managers. Positive reinforcement can be helpful.