Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Lessons from Costco, part 3

Welcome customers to and from your business. Costco’s entry and exit system doesn’t feel like a special, privileged club. To me it feels like I am a criminal they are temporarily allowing access to the store. Having “greeters” who do nothing but check to make sure your card is valid doesn’t make you feel welcome. Having your cart searched and every item ticked off your receipt as you exit leaves you feeling dirty and untrustworthy.

Feel free to post your comments on Costco. Do you like or dislike this shopping experience?

Technorati Tags: , ,

posted by Stephanie Weaver at 8:28 AM

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi,

I used to work at Costco years ago. While I was there I did some time working the doors. When people would ask me why I check their receipts when they leave I'd tell them it was because I was looking to see that items weren't double scanned (which happens more often than you might imagine). Granted that wasn't all I was watching out for, but when people heard I was actually looking out for their interests they seemed to feel better about me checking their receipts.
Myself, I look at it from the standpoint of Costco is doing something to keep prices down. It's very easy for unscrupulous types easy to get product past the registers and out the door. If Costco can keep losses down they can keep prices down.
Granted, Costco and it's front line employees could do more to make the customers feel better about having their card and receipts checked.

8:31 AM  

Post a Comment

Links to this post:

Create a Link

<< Home