The Customer Doesn?t Care About Your Burglar

[robert01]

The safe is a very important thing. I worked at a gas station for a while, it was 24 hours. The retailer was a good hearted fellow to be honest, but when it came to security he wasn't tough enough with corporate head office. All the tobacco products were left in unlocked cabinets in the back office, and the petty cash(not so petty amount usually around the sum of 1000 dollars) just sitting there beside 45000+ dollars worth of cigarettes. That is the main problem with the gas station business, especially a station right off a major artery on a very busy highway; your customer base was 2000+ people during a weekday. More if it was a nice weekend. You needed to have a large overhead of expensive products to meet the demand.
One night we got hit. The thieves came in through the backdoor unheard, and made their way into the locked office door. This door was a heavy fucking door with a lock that went directly into the metal frame of the building. They knew what they were doing, these weren't your everyday thug, they scouted, planned, and attacked. We lost almost 50000 dollars worth of product and cash. Lucky for the retailer we had an electric dropsafe that was controlled by Brinks or we would have been out probably close to 100,000$

If you get into retail make sure your security is good from the front door right to the back door. Don't fuck around with it. Spending the extra money on proper equipment and monitoring services will end up saving you money. People don't realize this.

Of course the insurance covered the lost product and cash, but we has no cigarettes for restock the shelves. He ended up losing sales + had to deal with hiked up premiums.

 

[Therumancer]

My basic thought here is that like most people going into retail, the victims in the article didn't really do their research first and look at what they were in for. See, before opening a business one of your first concerns has to be security, which is an expense nobody likes, and always seems like it's wasteful/not needed when it works since successful security means "nothing happens" rather than anything dramatic. Many businesses never think about securing their premises, and instead focus entirely on the lease/rent, utilities, liscences, and of course stocking product, when really none of that matters if you can't protect what your setting up. Spending thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars on a good safe built into the building's foundation for example might seen excessive, but consider what it saves after multiple robberies, it's best done as an initial expense.

Granted at this level hiring guards isn't viable, but on the issue of security in general this is what I used to do for a living. The casinos where I worked always wanted to cut the security department, and frequently did, as we were seen as an unnsessicary drain, until stuff started to happen, and then they hired more people, and let the department slide again once things were quiet. It's a very easy thing to do with security in general, whether it's safes, bars on the windows, and changing your locks and cameras and stuff once in a while, or maintaining human resources. A good lock keeps honest people honest so to speak, you never know how many people considered breaking that lock and decided it was too risky or not worth the trouble, or looked at the bars in your windows and decided you were too tough a nut to crack. Just as on a night where nothing happened, you never know how many people didn't get rowdy, or decided not to try and do something just because they saw uniformed security officers around (and never having acted, security never had to intervene). The point here being is that no matter the type, security is a deterrant.

There are other issues involved in this story as well, but that's a big one, and it's a common mistake. Even world class businesses make these kinds of mistakes because the value of GOOD security is present in what you never see, rather than what you do see so to speak.

 

[Gralian]

This article felt like a contrived, slightly schizophrenic mess. I came in expecting to read something about learning to fear the wrath of the consumer and how voting with your wallet can have a greater impact than you realise as spoken through the eyes of the retailer. What i got instead was a rant about how lazy business practices like refusing to pay suppliers on time, ignoring security as a vital aspect of running a private business and what i can only describe as an overwhelming case of Murphy's Law ended up running the author into the ground. It came across as nothing more than a sob story that's probably the swan song of nearly every small business retailer that either can't make it in a rough neighbourhood or has been muscled out by the larger competition. I realise my comment may come off as harsh, but really now; i expect something a bit more relevant to the reader and with a much greater sense of poignancy, not an agony aunt letter about some misfortune that happened a while back. You were on the cusp of dealing with a great point in regards to how you treat your regulars - and the consumer base as a whole - until it became convoluted with anecdotes of break-ins and bitter suppliers. Next time, try to be a little bit more focused on the direction of your article.

 

[targren]

Damn. I hate hearing about game shops like that going under.

Too bad they didn't make a brown shooter or an MMO instead of selling Magic cards. Apparently, that'll get you customer loyalty that would survive you raping their mothers with their father's disembodied heads...

 

[targren]

Edit: Damn forum software. Double-post removed.

 

[Scottieburke]

And yet I got screwed by steam two days ago when they hiked 2 games in my region to double the price. Cheers, arseholes. I quickly found an online cd-key seller and bought games from there instead. I still use the steam platform, but I won't be buying from them for a long time. OH, then there was EB. **** you EB.

 

[5mj7R7yf4Dwr3gdZyyu9PeGNwYjlNrjzuh3iTXQG]

Note to self, after the second burglary, fire-trap the alarm to burn down the the entire block.

Oops. Guess I shouldn't have stored my jerry cans in the back.

238U.

 

[ckam]

Sounds, tough. But I guess it worked out for the best.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

Consumers do not care, if they did we would have better products because the powers that be would have to bend alittle. Since voters...er... consumers do not care the over all system dose not care.

 

[Asehujiko]

And yet I got screwed by steam two days ago when they hiked 2 games in my region to double the price. Cheers, arseholes. I quickly found an online cd-key seller and bought games from there instead. I still use the steam platform, but I won't be buying from them for a long time. OH, then there was EB. **** you EB.

Publisher sets price, not Valve.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Rule #1: You gotta spend money to make money.
Security is a priority in retail. Sure you can save money by not paying out for it, but that "save" turns to "cost" when you become an easy target.
Also, when running a hobby store for CCG's/TTRPG's/TTSG's, know this: You're in a niche market and you're going to have limited clientele. Thus, cater to them because there are so few of them that losing 1 or 2 can sink your business. Also you probably are going to be in debt up to your eyeballs and your store isn't going to make money in the first or second years if you make it that far.
So when opening a "gaming" store, realize you're doing it for the fun of it and don't expect to get boatloads of money from it.
This from having a roomate who owned one of those stores. He owned it for a year, sold it to my other roomie who quickly ran it into the ground.

 

[Scottieburke]

And yet I got screwed by steam two days ago when they hiked 2 games in my region to double the price. Cheers, arseholes. I quickly found an online cd-key seller and bought games from there instead. I still use the steam platform, but I won't be buying from them for a long time. OH, then there was EB. **** you EB.

Publisher sets price, not Valve.

I contacted support over it. Their reply: 'Apologies for any inconvenience, steam is constantly scanning regional prices to bring titles more in-line with local retailers.'

As far as I'm concerned they did it. not the publisher.

 

[electric method]

This brings to mind a bit of market research that was shared with me very early in my management career. The research in question was a gallop poll about customer satisfaction and loyalty. This poll was the results of a 2 questions asked. 1. How many people do you tell about a good experience you've had at a business and 2. How many people do you tell about a bad experience you've had.

The answer to the first question was between 1-2 people. The answer to the second was between 7-10. After reading that bit of research, I made over 100 copies and gave one to all my management staff. From there, I kept copies and gave them out when I would be transfered to other stores.

I've found, over the years, that the results of that poll have not changed much, if at all. First rule of business, always ensure your customers never have a negative experience at your establishment. If they do, go out of your way to correct it. Second rule, take care of your employees. If they are unhappy, your customers will be unhappy.

What most companies fail to understand is that customers are people. People that will drive the business, staff the store(s) and either make the business a success or a failure.

 

[Strazdas]

5 breakins in a month and you couldnt come up with a "hire a guard for a week and catch the bastard" or at least "bar the window he got in though for 5 times in a row"?

 

[Eagi]

the first paragraph (the part about architectural intent) made my mind jump straight into Douglas Adams mode, it almost made me a bit sad when the thanks for the fish reference popped up.. despite being validated in my feeling of the writers like for the Hitch-hiker it still made took something away when it's too clear.

I guess my point would nuancing the great masters styles are more pleasing for the readers than just straight of quoting. Just some food for thought.

Ed over and out.

 

[SonicWaffle]

What i got instead was a rant about how lazy business practices like refusing to pay suppliers on time, ignoring security as a vital aspect of running a private business and what i can only describe as an overwhelming case of Murphy's Law ended up running the author into the ground. It came across as nothing more than a sob story that's probably the swan song of nearly every small business retailer that either can't make it in a rough neighbourhood or has been muscled out by the larger competition.

It amazes me how many people in the comment section are ignoring the points the author has made and are just saying "duh, should have paid suppliers on time, should have got security" as if they're saying something different to what was addressed in the article itself!

I work as an accountant. I've dealt with plenty of clients, most often small businesses and sole traders, who have made the same mistakes and are fully aware of the risks. If they could pay their suppliers regularly or jack up security, they absolutely would (for the most part). However, they often don't have the option - those things cost money. When you're running a small business, you often don't have the kind of disposable cash to deal with these issues, and you scrape by day-to-day. Even with the best business plan in the world there will be rough times, and it's all too easy to put off something you know that you need but can't really afford right now. It's easy to sit around and talk about how you would have done it differently, but when you actually have to make the decision between long-term security and short-term survivability it gets far more difficult.

Not particularly directed at you, just you were the person I happened to reply to, but I think the relevant phrase to apply to many of the above comments is "easier said than done".

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

Retail is fickle, you can't keep customers happy all the time, no matter how hard you try.

Sometimes it does just resort to being select, sarcasm is a big thing where I work that we're meant to be cutting down on, but what about when that one customer walks in who really deserves it.

Some opportunities just can't be passed up.