Customer service

[Ambidex]

Just in the few years I've been here (IAP) I've seen lots of cheers for our prized vendors, and rightly so. It seems they have the common sense so many retailers lack these days, treat the customer well and listen to their needs and amazingly you will earn the trust and business of said customers. While that sounds simple, many retailers treat people with disdain and act as they are doing customers a favor by opening their doors to them. I was just thinking about some of the different businesses and how they've changed over the last 50 years or so, some for the better, most for the worse. I think some businesses would do well by reverting to the old practice of treating the customer as they're right, even though we all know they're not, and unless the customer is being rude or abusive try to make them happy. I had this picture of pulling into a gas station and being met by an attendant pumping my gas and asking if he could check the oil and wash the windshield. Does this officially make me middle aged?? Wasn't meant to be a rant, more of a sad observation that the almighty dollar means more than people, but that's nothing new either.

 

[Smitty37]

When I was growing up, there was so much more "home" service.

The milk man delivered milk to our door every morning.

The bakery delivered bread every other day.

The dry cleaner picked up and dropped off dry cleaning twice a week.

In season, the huckster came by a couple of times a week with his vegetable wagon.

Our newspaper was delivered and it was placed behind the screen door so it wouldn't blow away and was out of the weather.

The meat market would 'save out' a nice roast for our Sunday dinner, even if we forgot to call.

Fuller brush, Watkins Products and other companies had sales people that went door to door.

Gas Stations, pumped your gas, checked your oil and belts, washed your windshield and asked if you wanted the air in your tires checked and put air in if you needed it.

We could call our order in to grocery store and they would deliver at no extra charge.

The Doctor made house calls.

The insurance companies came to our house every month to collect the premiums and of course they could go over your coverage with you at any time.

Department stores had people to help you all around the store....it was pretty easy to find things and no back ups at checkout.

We don't have any of that now....some of it was handy.

Of course there were few two car families and more than one or two who didn't have a car.

Most families the wife was home all day so the sales folks wouldn't have been knocking on the door of an empty house.

So some of the services were nice, but it's also easy to see why they're not possible anymore.

 

[steamshovel]

movies were .15 cents, barber was .25 cents, gas .18 cents bottled pop .10 cents and everybody gave good service and when something broke down you could buy replacement parts to fix now most things are disposable, buy another.

 

[Smitty37]

movies were .15 cents, barber was .25 cents, gas .18 cents bottled pop .10 cents and everybody gave good service and when something broke down you could buy replacement parts to fix now most things are disposable, buy another.

I remember going to the Wednesday afternoon matinee at the theater in Easton PA - usually cowboy pictures but a double feature, two cartoons, a serial, a newsreel and a comic book - all for 25 cents. Virtually no adults were in the seats but it seemed like every kid in Easton would be there - you had to arrive early.

The barber in my home town would not cut your hair on Saturday unless you were 16 or older and not going to school. Saturday morning was when all of the older working men would go in for their weekly shave and trim. They were mostly hard working railroad section gang or ice company men, and their shave and trim was one of their few pleasures in life. Then they would go home and take their weekly bath so they'd be ready for Confession on Saturday night and Mass on Sunday.

 

[Band Saw Box]

I remember well my Dad dropping my older brother and me off that the theater on Saturday afternoons a ticket was .25 cents a box or popcorn was 10 cents, being able to fill them gas tank for about $5.00, penny candy and getting a cherry coke at the lunch counter at the local drug store. Customer service meant something then, it seams now that it means why are you bothering me don't you see I'm texting.

 

[Kenny Durrant]

I'm not taking up for the retailers but I think things have changed on both sides of the counter. I think one of the changes is that there are cheaper ways to buy on line therefore making it harder for the mom and pop stores. I like getting deals on things but I also like being able to hold and look at something before I buy it. In order for the local stores to compeate they hire cheaper help so now when you ask for help no one knows what your talking about. I guess it a double edge sword and like my wife always says "Thats what we have".

 

[thebillofwrites]

When I was growing up, there was so much more "home" service.
Gas Stations, pumped your gas, checked your oil and belts, washed your windshield and asked if you wanted the air in your tires checked and put air in if you needed it.

Smitty,

Yes, I remember that well.

When I was a young lad, I performed many of those "services" mentioned in the above quote.
To this day, I can still wield a pretty mean squeegee )

That was back when we used to call them "Service Stations", and not just merely Gas Stations.

Bill

 

[glen r]

Smitty, I too remember pumping gas, checking the oil, belts and air and most anything else that some drivers wanted checked but didn't know how to do it. All this for $1.00 per hour. Shell had a competition on where they put bad belts on a car and went to different stations just buying a couple of dollars worth of gas but wanting to see if the pump jockeys were doing the under hood checks. I won $25.00 for the first belt that I found and the $10.00 for the second belt - one could not win the $25.00 amount more than once. Gas was $0.32 for regular and $0.37 for premium - this for Imperial gallons and yes in many instances $5.00 would fill a tank but in my instance I had to work 5 hours to fill that tank. How many hours does one have to work today to fill their tank - in many instances less than 5 hours.

 

[Smitty37]

Smitty, I too remember pumping gas, checking the oil, belts and air and most anything else that some drivers wanted checked but didn't know how to do it. All this for $1.00 per hour. Shell had a competition on where they put bad belts on a car and went to different stations just buying a couple of dollars worth of gas but wanting to see if the pump jockeys were doing the under hood checks. I won $25.00 for the first belt that I found and the $10.00 for the second belt - one could not win the $25.00 amount more than once. Gas was $0.32 for regular and $0.37 for premium - this for Imperial gallons and yes in many instances $5.00 would fill a tank but in my instance I had to work 5 hours to fill that tank. How many hours does one have to work today to fill their tank - in many instances less than 5 hours.

We didn't have a car most of the time (I was 23 when I bought my first) Before I went in the service so I wasn't too much into gas prices. But I do remember once when there was a "gas war" going on in New Jersey, about 35 miles from where I lived, when one of my buddies loaded 6 55 gallon (USA gallons) drums onto his pickup truck and drove to NJ to fill them (and the truck) for $.14 USD per gallon. 330 gallons plus what went in his truck for $45 and change.

When I first started filling my own car in 1961 it cost me between .23 and ,26 a gallon I had a 20 gallon tank so dead empty would run $4.60 to $5.20 I was making about $3.00 an hour so it was 1 1/2 hr to 1 2/3rd hr to fill the tank. Someone with a similar job today would be making about $25.00 per hour and it would cost him about $72.00 and change so he'd be spending about the same percentage of his pay to fill up. He would be driving a car that would probably be getting better mileage though My pick up now gets about 20% better everyday mileage then my car from that time frame got and 30% better highway.

 

[Cmiles1985]

I agree that there has been an evolution in both the consumer and the producer. I've been in some form of service industry since the ripe old age of ten (granted that's only been 19 years), and people in general have a very negative attitude and lack of respect for others. I served time managing a restaurant for four years, and nearly everyone that walked through the door acted as if we owed them something for coming in. I'm a firm believer in how my parents taught me: treat others the way you want to be treated. With some of these folks, they must want to be treated like canine excrement. No matter how polite, and how much you attempt to mitigate things, they still think everything should be free! The staffing is a whole 'nother story! Even where I'm at now, you can not find "younger" people with decent work ethic! My customer is now constantly hiring new operators because nobody wants to work! We aren't talking $10/hour jobs either. With some OT, these guys are making well over $100k by their third year! But, they want to sit in a control room to "earn" that... I pity the society that my kids and grand kids (at some point) will live in.

Having said that bit of rant, the folks in this forum are absolutely amazing and do provide that sort of "old school" service that I truly value. Thank you guys!