What's in those boxes?

Hey, what, you think that just because something is advertised, that we'll actually even have it for sale? Think again. This is The Company.

Despite the fact that we have catalogues to promote our products, bargains and company; despite the fact that federal legislation states that we must have a "merchantable quantity" of stocks for sale if they are so advertised, do you think The Company cares? No. (Just take a look at our online 'dispute forum' aka Customer Feedback on The Company website. Hilarious stuff. Unfortunately, old comments are gone.)

Sometimes, I can't wait to see someone so angry that they will notify Consumer Affairs and get some sort of law suit going on. It would make for interesting blogging, that's for sure. I'm often tempted to call up CAV (Consumer Affairs Victoria) myself. Or get someone to call A Current Affair becasue they couldn't get that pair of shoes reduced to $39.95 or that jacket for $49.95 or whatever. Oh, poor thing. There are people dying in wars.

Well, it's not like I don't care. I do. I can understand their frustration and anger at being misled. But to cry and scream like it's the end of the world is a bit overkill. There are people who don't even have food in their belly or a roof over their head. Throwing a hissy fit doesn't exactly contribute anything to society now does it. But there are better ways of resolving your issues. Like payback. Make yourself heard. Know your rights and our (as in, The Company's) responsibilities, and make them pay. Get us investigated by Consumer Affairs. It was great. After one disastrous catalogue release, a CA investigator actually went into one of our stores and questioned some staff! I was laughing and cheering! It's about time, because The Company sure doesn't listen to us or its customers!

Why is everyone kicking up such a stink you ask? Here's the deal:

So, you've seen a Kmart catalogue right? Or Big W? They state the start and end dates of the sale. Unfortunately, ours don't. So although you may get a catalogue in your newspaper or letterbox on a Thursday which says the sale ends in 2 weeks, say on the 14th of August, the sale may have already started on the Tuesday or Wednesday. Or of course, we already have the items in stock for a few weeks selling at the full retail price, and by the time the sale catalogue rolls around, we have already sold out of many of the popular sizes.

One of the major problems at The Company is stock control. We have 2 different types of stores: retail stores and clearance stores. I work at the full price retail stores, which emphasise excellent customer service and product knowledge. The Clearance stores are supposed to carry different lines of clothing and footwear, as well as discontinued and old season stock.

Where is this all headed? Oh, where to start?!

Last week, we had a retail sale. Though our catalogue now stresses the limited stock and sizes at each store and first in best dressed, we are never provided with enough stock to begin with. Our retail stores mostly stock one of each size of item, as that is all that can reasonably fit into our stores. The idea is that once we sell that blue shirt in a Small, stock office will send us another within a week, so that we are always at or close to full capacity. There are larger stores that often have larger sizes (say, men's shoes up to size 15.5 in some styles) and doubles of popular sizes (say, two mediums and larges in shirts, 2 size 8 and 9 shoes, etc). Our catalogue sales are often hit or miss. Lately, they've been 'miss'. We never received any stock replenishments of advertised items and were forced to deal with whatever stock we had at hand. So for example, one style of shoes were advertised as being originally $129.95 and now being reduced to $89.95 and being available from sizes 6-12 with full and half sizes available, but limited stock and sizes at each store. Fair enough. I get the catalogue today, believing the sale has just started, so head in to my local store early morning or afternoon to try on some of these shoes. Only to find that my size isn't available. We were never restocked with this particular style of shoe since they first hit our stores 6months ago. We now only have 2 pairs left in a size 6 and 6.5. Not very helpful is it. "Are you able to call another store for a size 12?" No, because they don't exist anywhere else in the country, as far as we know. No one has received replenishments of these shoes for as long as we can remember.

So that is just one case in point. There are many, oh so many, other cases of stock mismanagement. For example, we recently had a few popular styles of women's shoes for $59.95. They were very popular at the full price and sold very well. Unfortunately for us retail staff, Head Office doesn't take this into account (or does) and decides to further reduce them to $39.95 along with other 'buy this and get this offers' and advertise them in a catalogue. Due to the huge demand, we sold out within the first few hours. Of course, we probably only had the 3 pairs in 3 different colours to begin with. It had been a long time since we had seen a pair above a size 38 (about an AU7). Many women needed 39s, 40 and 41. Being the inquisitive trouble maker that I am at work, I attempted to seek answers. The lame excuse The Company could come up with was along these lines: they order the shoes which are manufactured overseas, and within each size run (which goes from size 36-41) they order, they order say 1 each of the smallest and largest sizes, and 2 or 3 of all sizes in between. So in an order of say 150,000 pairs of shoes, they may only have 100 or so size 40 and 41s. All these shoes are then distributed across the 70-odd retail stores across Australia. Invariably, some smaller stores will miss out. So, at a 'smaller', non-priority store like my own, we probably only ever received one full size run (all sizes) of this style, ever. So then when they are advertised and further reduced, we have no hope in hell of ever finding another pair of size 41s at our or any other store. See the problem here?

...

Another problem with The Company's advertised sales is that the stock arrives too late during the sales (if at all). At The Company, in order to maximise profit and space, it is decided that all our stock is to be "on the floor". So we don't have large back rooms in which to unpack our stock, nor do we have specific stock unpacking staff. All new deliveries, whether it be 2 or 3 boxes or 40-50 boxes, are delivered through our main, customer entrance and dumped onto our floor in full view (and way) of our customers. This does not make for a pretty sight. This and the fact that only one person is rostered to work in the store at all times, required to complete all store duties, makes for a very difficult and stressful workplace. How exactly is one person supposed to serve 15-20 people looking for shoes/clothing we don't have and scan in and unpack 45 boxes of clothing and footwear? You tell me. If we're lucky, during a catalogue sale, because our budgets are increased due to the projected sales we are to make, you may have 2 staff on for more than 2hours in a shift. Great.

So our stores have no advertised stock during a sale but 40 boxes of stock just arrived but not unpacked. We have no idea what is in the boxes, and must scan them all in in order to be able to sell them. This is not a simple process. (Not when you have 15 customers trying to get your attention and a million other things to worry about) So think again before you casually ask us if we can 'just have a quick look in those boxes for a Small shirt'. Be prepared to be met with an incredulous glare. Especially if by serving you, I am already ignoring the 10 people lined up at the counter ready to pay for their goods and the other 15 trying to get my attention to help them find a size.

The scanning in and unpacking of stock is a long and drawn out process. Not only must we just take it out of the box, we must take off all the junk plastic and tissue paper, security tag it, fold it if necessary, fit it in with our existing stock and remerchandise if necessary. Our stores are all meant to be presented a certain way, believe it or not. The task of unpacking stock for sale is made all the more difficult when like a box of chocolates, "you never know what you're gonna get" - there is often an assortment of men's and women's clothing in assorted styles, colours and sizes within the one box. And of course, all must be displayed differently, according to The Company's set display guidelines.

So, next time you walk into one of our stores looking for a bargain and we don't have it on the shelves, try hassling The Company and calling your local Ombudsman. Cos frankly my dear, I don't give a damn. (I'm just here for the money).