musings

I went to the local shops yesterday. Has an email recently gone out instructing all retailers to hustle for extra business?

First, to the post office to send a parcel. “Whatever is the cheapest way, please.” Would I like to insure the parcel? No thanks. Would I like proof of delivery? No thanks. Do I have a credit card? Er, yes. Do I go abroad? Hmm. Yes. Would I be interested in the post office’s own credit card which is the only one not to charge for foreign transactions? Nope. I use the Nationwide credit card which also doesn’t charge for foreign transactions, thanks. Bye.

Then to Superdrug for some toiletries. Would I like a mobile phone top up? No thanks. Stamps? No thanks.

Then to Costa for a panini* and a coffee. Would I like a muffin for dessert? No thanks.

Then to Borders for a birthday card. Would I like to buy some stamps? No thanks.

Sheesh! I know that retailers need to maximise their turnover, and it’s just good business to upsell but until now it was a tradition confined to shoe shops who tried to peddle ’special cleaning spray’ with your footwear, and electrical retailers who offered extended warranties.

I want shops to provide a retail service, and not to coerce me like a market stallholder flogging his wares.

*Strictly speaking, that should be panino but, like ‘graffiti’ and ‘data’ the plural is used in English to mean the singular.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 27th, 2008 at 8:45 pm and is filed under society. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.