A little rant about Clynk customers

[MelodiousBubbles]

Yes, I'm certain that if anyone knows the bottle system Clynk, they now probably know what company I work for. I will say now I like this system. I like it a lot, actually. It's quick, simple, and for the most part, fairly mess-free. There are no machines to wash down or empty, and our entire foyer doesn't smell like a stale brewery all summer.

A quick run down for those who don't know how this system works:

1.) You bag all your bottles in green Clynk bags. No sorting, no nothing. Just toss 'em all in and you're good.

2.) You put a sticker with the bar code attached to your Clynk account on the bag.

3.) Toss the bag down the convenient Clynk shoot in the foyer.

4.) Either the next day, or whenever you happen to be in the store next, go to the little white kiosk near the shoot to scan your card and check your balance/print a slip.

Now is it just me, or does that sound fairly simple? The kiosk works like a bank screen, and I've seriously gotten through to more people by pointing out it's a savings account for bottles. Yes, they have to purchase the bags, but it's $1.25 for ten bags the size of standard kitchen bags. With tax, it's $1.32, so it comes out to be about 13 cents a bag. That's not that much.

Most people who hear about this program think it's great. They can save up money separate from their normal account for special occasions and they don't have to deal with gross bottles. Others get out-right pissed at me when I tell them that we don't do machines any more. So I have a few of my favorite Clynk gems to share with you all


This has to be illegal!

Guy who was a regular at my old store comes in asking where the bottle machines are.

Me: I'm sorry, but we don't have the machines any more. *my company* only deals with the Clynk system now. *goes through spiel explaining it all*

SC: Wait, you have to BUY the bags?

Me: After your first set of free ones, yes.

SC: That's ridiculous! You're going to make me PAY to return bottles I've already paid for?! What's the point, then! I'll have to return bottles to pay for returning bottles!

Me: .... (you're overreacting just a tad, don't you think? it's not even $2) Well, sir... If you do the math, it really only comes out to about 13cents a bag. You make that up after one wine or liquor bottle or three regular bottles.

SC: I don't care! This has to be illegal. I'm going to look that up. Jesus, this really pisses me off! I'm going to look this up, and when I find out it's illegal for you to charge us for returning bottles, I'm going to report this entire store!

Me: Alright, sir. Have a nice day


But I'm OLD!

A good portion of my elderly customers have a little bit of a difficult time understanding the system at first. That's okay. It's new. We'll go out with them once they set up their account and demonstrate how it works, and all is good. They just need visuals to cement how it works in their heads. Once they understand, they tend to like the system, too. Less work for them which is good because they can't do as much. Not this one man, who I again remember from my old store who's just grouchy about anything and everything to begin with.

SC: So we can't return our bottles any more, is that right?

Me: No, sir, but how we do it now is... *general spiel*

SC: *interrupting cow says 'moo'* I was told about that, and I don't get it at all! So you're saying that we can't return our bottles now, right?

Me: .... No, sir. I'm not. *goes through spiel again* And if you have a difficult time, we can always have someone go out and show you how it works. I know it's a little difficult for some people to understand at first.

SC: No, no! I don't want any of that! I just want the machines! You should bring them back!

Me: I'm sorry, but there aren't going to be any machines.

SC: Well then I'll just bring my bottles and my business somewhere else!

Me: I'm sorry you feel that way, sir. Have a nice day.


And really... Just lather, rinse, repeat about several times a day every shift I'm behind the service desk and you get about 10% of the customers I've signed up for the program in the last couple weeks. I've already gotten to the point where I just smile and tell them to have a nice day. Them being pissy over a new system shouldn't be enough to ruin my day, so I don't let it. If they really want to complain, they call my store manager about two feet from the door outside saying they want to complain

I really wish I was exaggerating about them only being two feet from the door before they call.

[Solumina]

That sounds like a pretty awesome system, I wish we had something like that around here, too bad some people just aren't willing to try something new

[MelodiousBubbles]

That sounds like a pretty awesome system, I wish we had something like that around here, too bad some people just aren't willing to try something new

Indeed. I got screamed at by this one man who looked like he was close to seven feet tall today. I'm only 5'4'', 5'5'' at most. Rather intimidating if you're one to be intimidated.

Thankfully, I was able to just tell him that that's how we do it, and that if he would prefer, there are bottle redemption centers in the towns on either side of ours

[TheSHAD0W]

It sounds convenient, but...

I don't think it's moral for your store to charge bottle deposits, and then require customers to pay for bags in order to return the bottles. If your state requires the bottle deposits and also requires you to take returns, this system may not be considered legal.

[flybye023]

I kind of agree with The Shadow. I've already paid a "fee" to buy the pop/whatever and now I have to pay another "fee" to return them. It may seem like a small amount but it adds up. If I buy a 12-pack, then three bottles is about 25% of my deposit I'm not getting back.

However, if this is just your company and not the stores whole area, I wouldn't fuss about it, I'd just return my bottles at a place who didn't do Clynk.

[MelodiousBubbles]

Very, very large company under the umbrella of an even larger company. I'm sure if it wasn't legal, someone would have done something by now since that's been the standard bottle redemption practices within the company for the last couple years.

And yes, it is just our company, and the redemption centers I tell them about are 15-20 minutes away on either side only if the traffic lights decide they hate you.

[Andara Bledin]

Well, considering that Maine gave them 10 days back in October of last year to get "in compliance" and they're still charging for the bags, I would have to say that they likely are within the law on it.

^-.-^

[Magpie]

Bah, people are complaining? They should come here. Returns are still only at the beer store, even though a) the liquor store sells beer and b) there's deposit on wine and liquor bottles now too. And I inevitably seem to end up behind a group who lived in the same house for multiple terms, and subscribe to the theory of "all the deposits from this year's beer will pay for a party at the end of the term". They had five of those beer carts once. And they were stacked pretty high. (Couple of cases of the stuff that calls itself beer, and one of Keith's, PLUS cash back).

[iradney]

I suspect that the bag charging et al is the bottle system, not the store. That is not within the OP's ability to change, so let's leave that particular tangent alone, mk?

[Sliceanddice]

you you have to buy bags but there are big bags right like trash can size right? well guess what you would have to buy bags any right so your just limiting the type purchasable.

[trailerparkmedic]

Brilliant, complain to the person with the least power to fix things. SCs are so annoyingly stupid.

[ibor132]

Yes, I'm certain that if anyone knows the bottle system Clynk, they now probably know what company I work for. I will say now I like this system. I like it a lot, actually. It's quick, simple, and for the most part, fairly mess-free. There are no machines to wash down or empty, and our entire foyer doesn't smell like a stale brewery all summer.
.

A quick google search would tell you that even if you didn't know...and if you've ever had to call in a Clynk equipment issue, you have probably talked to me on the phone.
I am super curious about which store you are at now though...your previous posts made me think you were working at one of the affiliated independents rather than a company store (I had guessed about the company previously, but being a 20+ year Maine resident makes it pretty easy to infer). I totally understand if you don't want to share that though.

Regarding the legality/morality issue, Maine works on a system of independent redemption centers. Stores are not required to take back bottles as long as they have an "affiliation" with a redemption center of some kind. Moreover, Maine has more redemption centers than any other bottle bill state, so there is no shortage of places to redeem bottles. It's not like in some states where the ONLY place to get your deposit back is the RVM at the grocery store where you bought it. For example, in the town that I live in, there are two stores with Clynk drop sites, one other grocery stores with RVMs, and two independent redemption centers.

[wagegoth]

Indeed. I got screamed at by this one man who looked like he was close to seven feet tall today. I'm only 5'4'', 5'5'' at most. Rather intimidating if you're one to be intimidated.

That puts you at the perfect height to punch him in the balls. Always remember that with tall guys.