Well, after 30 years of shopping at the Co-op I will never buy another thing from here again. Maybe its just the White City store, I don't know, but it has left such a bad taste that I will not go back.
Two weeks ago I made my regular purchase of 1-50lb (used to be 80lbs BTW) egg pellets and 1-50lb bag of chicken scratch and then proceeded to load out where I had to wait. As cars backed up (White City has an indoor tunnel load out area) while the all female load out crew was having problems finding things and keeping up the female manager finally showed up, from what I understand recently transferred from the failed Coos Bay store, and stood there talking to an older female customer while six cars waited with no way out. No pull outside so all these other people can leave while we figure you out, they can all just wait, after all we're talking here. Poor management.
Then yesterday I went back and TRIED to purchase my regular weekly order and the female supposedly operating the register was apparently not aware the Grange Co Op carry's 50lb bags of chicken scratch and proceeded to tell me they don't. When I mentioned that I have been buying it every week for nearly 30 years, her response was, "are you a grange member," which was an odd question as my membership card was on the counter, I replied, "yes there's my card," she scanned it and brought up my history as if she didn't believe me about being able to buy a freaking 50lb bag of chicken scratch at a FARM & LIVESTOCK STORE.
So far, I was cooperating with this inept, poorly trained "clerk." Then she asked me, as she is looking on her screen at my purchase history, "when was the last time you purchased a 50lb bag of chicken scratch" and I replied, pointing at the screen, "it's right there in front of you." Everything would have gone OK with me making my purchase with maybe only a lil head shaking at the level of training if at that point she could have pulled it together and just allowed me to spend money at your store, but that didn't happen.
By now a male employee was opening the other register (rather than help the inept poorly trained "cashier") and took it upon himself to turn to me and say in that demeaning, phony polite manner we hear from employees far too often "sir, why don't you just let her figure it out." To which I answered, "why don't you get someone here who knows what they are doing, ya know, forget it I'll go get it at Coastal."
I admit, I have never experienced this level of poorly trained employees or as poorly managed Grange store as the one in White City, so maybe its just that store. Nevertheless, that is the store closest to where I live and I wont be going back however, I predict the White City store will suffer the same fate as your Coos Bay store and at this point I don't think it helps to reassign a manager from a failed store to manage another store. I say this being a LONG TIME customer who is telling you the service deterioration at that store coincides with that decision.
You can blame all kinds of things on the Coos Bay stores failure, but from what I am seeing you better start looking at management. It's always swell when employees are happy and everyone gets along with each other at work, however the whole "team building" management philosophy is going to put you out of business.
When managers can't resolve a customer problem without backing up six cars to wait till they are done talking, you have a problem.
When employees are allowed to act on their feeling that its their place to butt in on a customer transaction they are not involved in to "stick up" for an employee AGAINST a customer when it really wasn't necessary, you have a problem.
When you have employees at the register who don't even know that the FARM & LIVESTOCK store PAYING THEM does actually sell 50lbs bags of chicken feed, you have a problem.
That problem is management.
My advice, because I will be greatly saddened if the co-op fails, is that you get managers that understand the customer is the one paying their salary and that while the customer may not always be right, the customer is still always the customer.
You need to realize just because someone has been an employee for a long time or has some "degree" in "management" doesn't make them qualified to be an actual manager, nor is it a good plan to hire managers based on their gender just because you need one to fill your political correctness quota.
Every employee should be familiar with everything that store sells, at the very least, know that it exists.
"Team building" management is fine as long as the "team" understands it is not about "us versus the customer" it is about the "team" winning the gratitude and loyalty of the customer. read more