Just Dont Get It!!!
The reason for this very disjointed post is my experience during this past weekend when like every desi I dutifully went shopping on Friday to spend some well-earned money: No matter what store I ventured into, there was this huge line of people standing in line at each of the billing counters. And guess what took me by surprise? The high number of employees on the floor, helping out customers. I just couldn’t understand the logic behind having more folks on the floor than at the billing counters than. Most of the customers flocking these stores on Black Friday know exactly what they are looking for. Most of them do not need any assistance on the product that they came to buy. They were there bcos they spotted the deal and have been on a healthy diet of sites like this. The lines were the longest in stores like Circuit City and Staples.
I was wondering what could be the reason behind this decision of the store owners, not to increase the personnel at the billing counter. It definitely can not be their inability to get employees to work on the day after Thanksgiving bcos over here, folks who work on days like these are paid 1.5 to 2 times their regular pay rate. The other reason I could think of was - by doing so, they make sure that they look super-busy giving the customers a notion that they are having some really hot deals and due to which they hope that the customers will make a beeline to the store.
In Circuit City, they had a even worse strategy – they would not let you get your hands on the high profile items. They ask you to stand in line (without the item you want to buy) and you will get to know the fate of the availability only when you reach the counter. So, once you reach the counter, they search for the item in their inventory, have someone go & fetch it for you and then you finally pay the bill. Naturally, this was taking way too much time than at any other stores.
All this drove me crazy bcos though the crowd on a Black Friday is probably 4-5 times more than what they normally encounter, with proper planning they could easily streamline the crowd by having more employees on the shift (Some stores like CompUSA were much better in bringing down the wait times). My experience made me take an oath that this is the last year I am going out to any of the stores on Black Friday. Coming to think of that, it might not be a bad idea bcos many of the so-called deals will be available online in a matter of few days from now. Say, for example this red-hot Canon SD 600 deal which was offered at $199.99 by Circuit City is actually available for 204$ in this site here.
You guys can think of any possible reason?
BTW, couple of more items to be added to my You are a desi if list.
1) You watch a Bond/ Spielberg movie in the opening weekend
2) You head out to the electronics stores on Black Friday
I was wondering what could be the reason behind this decision of the store owners, not to increase the personnel at the billing counter. It definitely can not be their inability to get employees to work on the day after Thanksgiving bcos over here, folks who work on days like these are paid 1.5 to 2 times their regular pay rate. The other reason I could think of was - by doing so, they make sure that they look super-busy giving the customers a notion that they are having some really hot deals and due to which they hope that the customers will make a beeline to the store.
In Circuit City, they had a even worse strategy – they would not let you get your hands on the high profile items. They ask you to stand in line (without the item you want to buy) and you will get to know the fate of the availability only when you reach the counter. So, once you reach the counter, they search for the item in their inventory, have someone go & fetch it for you and then you finally pay the bill. Naturally, this was taking way too much time than at any other stores.
All this drove me crazy bcos though the crowd on a Black Friday is probably 4-5 times more than what they normally encounter, with proper planning they could easily streamline the crowd by having more employees on the shift (Some stores like CompUSA were much better in bringing down the wait times). My experience made me take an oath that this is the last year I am going out to any of the stores on Black Friday. Coming to think of that, it might not be a bad idea bcos many of the so-called deals will be available online in a matter of few days from now. Say, for example this red-hot Canon SD 600 deal which was offered at $199.99 by Circuit City is actually available for 204$ in this site here.
You guys can think of any possible reason?
BTW, couple of more items to be added to my You are a desi if list.
1) You watch a Bond/ Spielberg movie in the opening weekend
2) You head out to the electronics stores on Black Friday
posted by Filbert at 4:37 PM
2 Comments:
Even i heard abt it...Most of my friends there experienced the same...when the demand is more...makkal ippadithaan scene poduvaanga :)
I wish they do something about it or someone atleast tell me the logic behind this :( Drives me nuts, going to all the stores and getting frustrated with these never-ending lines
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