You make ONE exception...

[mattm04]

About 2-3 weeks ago a older custoemr comes up to the counter with a bag of our day old muffins which are sold in a package of 6 at half price and asks for only four. Eventually we give in and do it. Apparently this person was with one of the assisted living places that brings bus loads of older customers by once a week. Word spread around said facility like wildfire than to other places. Soon almost every entitled old person is demanding day old and current product packed their way.

A package of 8 brownies that i just made but you only want 2, sure just divide the price by 8 and find the price per piece and multiply by the number of pieces the EW wants give them two and toss the rest. You want a 1/4 of four different flavors of pie. well you did the brownie for Joe so we cut up 4 pies, reduce the price by 3/4 on each and toss 3/4 of 4 pies. Lost of product form these two incidents over $15.

Well it finally came to a end after over a hundred dollars of product became unsaleable in two days. The GM realized the problem and ended the whole thing. At first it was a note to employees, which leads to entitled SC's.

SC: Helloooo!
Me: can I help you?
SC: Yes. *holding several packages of fresh and day old product* I wnat one of these fresh muffins and three of these day old muffins and one of these day old rolls, all as one.
Me: Ma'am we are no longer dividing up pre-packaged items on the shelf.
SC: But you did it before.
Me: Yes we did but we have discontinued that per the store manager.
SC: But that is <disrespectful to older people, not faaaair, etc>.
Me: I'm sorry you feel that way ma'am but it has cost us hundreds of dollars and we are no longer doing it. we only will sell it as packaged.

Usually the SC continues to whine some more and eventually just leaves it.

To try to help the situation the GM made a sign about the new policy. we all know how well this will go. It leads to a conversation like this.

SC: Can i have <items> packaged <this way>.
Me: Sir we are no longer dividing up pre-packaged items on the shelf.
SC: But you did it before.
Me: Yes we did but we have discontinued that per the store manager.
SC: I know I saw the damn sign, i don't care. Just do it.
OR
SC: How was I supposed to know?
Me: *points to sign*
SC: Oh, well cna you do it?
Me:

We have not done this for about a week now ad so far our managers have not given in, which have pissed of the EWs even more. Lets hope they keep it up.

[Pagan]

A package of 8 brownies that i just made but you only want 2, sure just divide the price by 8 and find the price per piece and multiply by the number of pieces the EW wants give them two and toss the rest. You want a 1/4 of four different flavors of pie. well you did the brownie for Joe so we cut up 4 pies, reduce the price by 3/4 on each and toss 3/4 of 4 pies. Lost of product form these two incidents over $15.

Not excusing these EWs, but, if the manager went ahead and broke up those two packages for them, why wouldn't s/he let you repackage the rest and at least try to recoup some of the money?

Wait....don't tell me....let me guess....that would be something too akin to logic, wouldn't it?

[Aisling]

Not excusing these EWs, but, if the manager went ahead and broke up those two packages for them, why wouldn't s/he let you repackage the rest and at least try to recoup some of the money?

Well, first, who wants 3/4ths of a pie?

Also, I think there are rules (and/or laws) against reselling anything once the packaging has been opened because of contamination or somesuch. It is, I believe, akin to how if you get meat sliced at the deli then don't want it after they hand it to you, they have to throw it out, even if it's only been out of their control for 30 seconds.

[Bright_Star]

Anytime you let a customer bend the rules a bit then the next time they are going to try to bend the thing so far as to attempt to break it. Customers don't care about rules & regulations. They just want things done their way & don't care if it's not allowed or that you can get in trouble for doing it.
Give an inch & they want a whole mile or more.

[Aisling]

Maybe the rules are different between the US and Canada, I don't know, but I routinely see cakes/pies/etc. being cut down into single serving sizes and sold in plastic clamshell containers. Or a display where the bakery shop in the grocery stores have taken a quarter of four different cakes/pies and packaged them together.

All that would have been done before the product ever went out onto the floor.

The rules are complicated, and sometimes seem very stupid, but it's better than taking a chance that some sick so-and-so is tampering with the food.

[Hyndis]

Well, first, who wants 3/4ths of a pie?

Also, I think there are rules (and/or laws) against reselling anything once the packaging has been opened because of contamination or somesuch. It is, I believe, akin to how if you get meat sliced at the deli then don't want it after they hand it to you, they have to throw it out, even if it's only been out of their control for 30 seconds.

Yup.

When I worked at Safeway I made a point of letting customers know this. Might have been a bit sucky of me, but all of the needless waste generated seriously peeved me off.

Customer is at the cashier, getting their groceries ringed up.


"Oh, I don't want that deli meat anymore."

"Sure, ma'am, I'll throw that away for you."


Most of the the time they didn't even hear what I was saying, but sometimes when they did realize what I was saying they became a bit shocked, at which point I explained that any cold/frozen/deli item that is no longer wanted needs to be destroyed because we cannot guarantee that its still safe to sell.

Hopefully I educated a few people about the staggering amount of waste that happens in every grocery story, and how people change their behavior in a slight way to drastically reduce the amount of waste.

And yeah, I may have been sucky, but I hated that job. HATED. My boss was even stealing from me, and it seemed only royalty shopped there. Or at least thats how the customers demanded to be treated. Oh, too busy chattering on your cell phone? Its okay, slave boy can push your cart and unload your groceries for you.



Also, I believe Safeway's official policy is to also split packages, just like how the OP detailed. Or at least it was when I was there. Its not advertised, but if a customer asks, we had to do it.

[Mark Healey]

Me: Sir we are no longer dividing up pre-packaged items on the shelf.
SC: But you did it before.

Hence, the use of the phrase "no longer" instead of "don't". That's what I'd like to say in your situation but you're probably not allowed.

[NateTheChops]

Yeah, you got to love upper management. They'll do something incredibly stupid that hurts the company in the long run and then when they realize it was a bad idea they turn around and change the policy as if nothing ever happened.

I almost never know who to blame. Is it the customers who expect to get something for nothing or the management who thinks that losing a a single bad customer is worse than losing all of them because you can no longer afford to sell your product.

[MannersMakethMan]

You make one exception to the rule for an SC, and the exception becomes the rule. Any nice system you set up to help a customer ends up being exploited to heck until you're forced to knock it on the head. Quite sad really.

[edible_hat]

You make one exception and the next time they whinge "but you/the other guy did it last time!"

[Pagan]

Well, first, who wants 3/4ths of a pie?

Also, I think there are rules (and/or laws) against reselling anything once the packaging has been opened because of contamination or somesuch. It is, I believe, akin to how if you get meat sliced at the deli then don't want it after they hand it to you, they have to throw it out, even if it's only been out of their control for 30 seconds.

I mean repackaged as more single servings. Is it something that's made and packaged at the store level or something that's shipped in pre-packaged? It's not clear from the OP, he says "our" muffins, so....

And the 3/4 of a pie that's left hasn't been out of their control.

Maybe the rules are different between the US and Canada, I don't know, but I routinely see cakes/pies/etc. being cut down into single serving sizes and sold in plastic clamshell containers. Or a display where the bakery shop in the grocery stores have taken a quarter of four different cakes/pies and packaged them together. Less waste and it gives more of a selection. Any grocery store I've shopped in appears to follow this practice, from BC to Newfoundland.

I see that all the time here. Sunflower Market and Flying Star come to mind.

[Aisling]

I mean repackaged as more single servings...And the 3/4 of a pie that's left hasn't been out of their control.

Do you remember/have you heard of the Tylenol murders?

When an item's been in a customer's possession, the store can no longer be certain it's fit for consumption, so anything that's been opened/kept out of cold storage/taken out of the store and returned must be tossed. The store doesn't know what people have done with it.

The bags bread come in, and the plastic containers that cookies/pies/etc are packaged in, are not hard to open. The store can't really guarantee that someone hasn't opened it.

Also, I believe denying the right to repackage food prevents unscrupulous stores from cutting away the damaged/moldy portions of a product and trying to sell the remainder. Yes, I'm serious, I know a meat department manager who routinely tries to sell so-old-it's-smelly meats after having the kitchen cook and package them as "heat and eat" meals.

Maybe you're fine with taking those chances, but personally, I'm glad these safeguards are in place.

[mattm04]

To clarify we sell half-pies but we bake pies and divide some in half and some full then put them out. The cookies we bake and package in store, and the stuff the comes pre-packed and fully cooked from the vendor we will reduce for one day past the "Best By" date.

The issue supposedly comes from somewhere a rogue manager was producing too much stuff and was opening packages tossing the bad and re assembling new packages to make it look like less shrink many years ago.

It is essentially a CYA in the event of a food poisoning case. Some food in the trash is better than negative publicity and hundreds of thousand of dollars if not more because we are constantly opening food on the shelf.

[Mr Hero]

SC: But that is <disrespectful to older people, not faaaair, etc>.

I'll tell you what's unfair. Our store loses $100 worth of product for your entitled ass only wanting a partial product and we throw the rest away.

[lordlundar]

Maybe the rules are different between the US and Canada, I don't know, but I routinely see cakes/pies/etc. being cut down into single serving sizes and sold in plastic clamshell containers. Or a display where the bakery shop in the grocery stores have taken a quarter of four different cakes/pies and packaged them together. Less waste and it gives more of a selection. Any grocery store I've shopped in appears to follow this practice, from BC to Newfoundland.

But they have a food service license in addition to the food sales license. Therin lies the difference.