On 12/11/2015 12:35 PM, Don Y wrote:
On 12/11/2015 11:09 AM, Muggles wrote:

I went to buy some material at Jo-Anns and the check out process if a
nightmare. They only have one line for everything, so if you have
material you want cut first, they do it right there are the check out.
So, here are mostly ladies with buggies full of small items and multiple
bolts of material that needs to be measured and cut. I was lucky since
there were only 3 people in front of me, but each of those people had
about 6 to 10 small bolts of material with each bolt needing a different
length of material to be cut. I literally waited 45 minutes in line just
to get up there so they could cut my material out for me, and then I
could purchase it. Getting my material measured and cut took another 30
minutes. To top it off the lady who was measuring and cutting my
material had only been there 2 weeks and took a good 3 minutes to just
cut the material across the width. It's the most inefficient method of
checking customers out I've EVER seen.

Ah, but you're defining "efficient" (inefficient) from YOUR perspective!
From the store's perspective, that solution is the *most* efficient!
it ensures THEIR (paid) staff are kept busy at all times 9at the
customers' expense).

If they had folks on the floor cutting fabric, then those people
might be sitting idle when there are no fabric customers. Or,
the cashiers up front might be sitting idle when there are
ALL fabric customers.

By funneling all customer interactions through a single point,
it ensures that *their* resources are MOST EFFICIENTLY USED!

The same is true of places like the post office. Folks invariably
complain about how INefficient the process is of conducting business
at the counter: "Why don't they have more cashiers?" From the
Post Office's perspective, it is more efficient to have their
minimal staff utilized at 100% while YOU wait than it would be for
them to have EXTRA staff that might incur idle periods (idle = lost
efficiency).

The trick is not to annoy customers *too* much to impact your
overall business. I.e., when folks stop going to JoAnn's in favor
of some other fabric store, then the store's "efficiency" is
being counterproductive. OTOH, if JoAnn's is the only game
in town, then the customers have little recourse.

Now do you see how "efficient" is viewed in a perverse way BY
BUSINESSES??

Normally, a fabric store will have tables on the floor where they can go
to get fabric measured and cut, and then they can take all their items
to the check out to be rung up. I just don't get it why this store does
it this way.

Ours has three or four "cutters" in the fabric department. There is
frequently a 5 minute wait to get a bolt cut. If I can, I try to
select a bolt that happens to have just about what I need on it
so I can skip the cutting altogether. The cashiers grumble because I have
no "cutting ticket" to tell them how much material I am purchasing.
I smile, innocently, and say, "Can't you just measure it?" (I'm
rarely buying more than a yard or two; if you can't measure out
72 inches, you probably can't operate a cash register!)

I understand. Your comment inspired me to send the corporate office and
email about my recent experience at their check-out counter.

--
Maggie