Understaffed high street stores.

[2littleguineas]

Has anyone else noticed high street stores are becoming more and more understaffed as time goes on? The only staff I see in-store now is those on the check outs. There's rarely anyone around to ask for help and there's always queues when you're trying to pay.

I work for a large pharmacy chain, taken over in recent years by a US Company. Since they've taken over, they've drastically reduced the number of staffing hours in store but still expect business to grow.

I live rural and a lot of shops locally wouldn't be chains so hadn't noticed this much in other stores. But recently I've been on shopping trips to large cities and have been surprised to see how bad it's became in most stores. I found most of the staff weren't friendly more so in clothing stores. It was much better in supermarkets though. I can understand the staff feeling frustrated at been expected to do the work of two people, bearing the brunt of customers annoyance and also their managers who expect them to cover check outs and complete other jobs simultaneously but I don't understand their rude attitude to polite customers.
Anyway I'm wondering how long these companies can get away with the poor service they're providing. Does internet shopping mean we now have to put up and shut up and this is the future of high street shopping?

Yes its a disgrace. I now work in a very specialist shop and am on a zero hour contract. I now work mostly 2 days a week and ad hoc hours in the week. Even if my boss asks hq for more staff in they say no so only contracted members get full time work. Even in our busiest periods they refuse to let the three of us on zero hour contracts work.

Makes shoplifting easier, though.

A little late because it’s on the first page - but understaffing at M&S and the only staff to be seen having a management pow-wow in the middle of the stores was a feature in the 1980s, which is when I stopped shopping there, having told them what I thought of their attitude to customers.

WH Smith at the airport was so awful. Only self service tills, which asked questions requiring an override by one poor young girl manning about 16 tills at 4am. I felt desperately sorry for her.

On a positive note I went into Russell and Bromley Bluewater earlier Lots of really helpful polite staff what a difference.

House of Fraser however the staff just carried on their non work related chat whilst one of them 'served' me.

M&S no staff to be seen anywhere.

So much of this resonates. Debenhams deserves to go under. I am sure there are some lovely staff but a lot of them are surly or downright rude. They also try to hard sell the credit card, do not take no for an answer. I have complained to their head office about this but as it is their policy to push the card they won’t do anything about it. I am sure the staff hate having to do this. And the stores are untidy or not a pleasant experience. I recently went to their flagship shop in Oxford Street. I tried to buy a watch, the assistant (who did no assisting whatsoever) was rude and disinterested. I walked out. And it was boiling hot. Their cosmetic counters are unmanned. I tried to buy a YSL product from my local store (which recently featured in their Xmas ad so presumably one of their better stores) and there was nobody on the counter. I found a woman from a completely different brand and she rooted around in the drawers and sold me the wrong product. Luckily I spotted it before I left the store, but the assistant was visibly annoyed, as was I. I have also bought a Clinique mascara from my local store which was dried up. I now buy all my repeat purchases online. For newer products, ones I need to look at before I buy, I go to Fenwicks, Space NK or independent shops.

Boots and Next are also on a downward trajectory. M & S used to be good but in rapid decline. (A lot of the stores briefly experimented with dimming the lights, presumably to save money, but it meant squinting. I mentioned it in my local store, they practically told me I was imagining it. I asked customers around me and they all agreed the lights had been dimmed to a stupid agree. I am all for championing green initiatives but this is a £ saving thing. They seem to have put a shilling in the meter and the lights are back up. )

W H Smith are a cluttered mess, promoting large hits of chocolate at the till point like sugary pushers. Once they offered my light bulbs. Wtf? I went in for a Woman’s Own and they asked me if I wanted a bulb. I am all for diversification but that is random. And they are over priced.

I think the theories in this thread are right. The bigger stores are pushing automation and then pushing sales online to get rid of big stores.

I hope independent stores have their day again.

Smiths have a wholesale arm , they will be okay , though the stores haven't had anything done to them in 30 years. All The airport and train station shops supposedly make a decent profit.

I'm not so sure of shops wanting to shut them down to replace with automation. They are shutting them down due to lower footfall.

Last weekend i went to buy a car. I was asked to go on a Sunday but went on Saturday as it ended up suiting me better. One salesman, very busy! I realised he really meant it.

So we chatted to a helper who let us sit in showroom vehicles and play with bits of interest. We rebooked for this Sunday. I took two cars out for test drives and he gave me two hours. I got back about 10 minutes early and he had a queue of two! He saw me straight after and has been very on the ball with emails since. He will be pleased as im buying one tomorrow.

Ive never seen such a understaffed showroom, especially as there seem to be genuinely interested buyers out there and the test drive paperwork isnt fast.

I don’t think people want robots

I HATE the automatic tills. They never work for me. I have to wait for help everytime which is usually one harassed soul (whose colleagues have been made redundant).

So I no longer use the small M and S shops. I want a human serving me. Our local Tesco has lovely staff and so i shop there

I really hope we do return to little shops.

I’m trying not to buy so much online and support them

The reason shops have no staff is due to the fact everyone shops online. I am guilty of this but if we all used the shops then they would pump money into them but because we all order online now a days all the money goes online.

2littleguineas I can tell I work for the same company as you. We told our manager we can't do this amount of work in this set time with so few staff. The reply was that we have to manage our time better.

Curlygirly yes it's always our fault. I refuse to let the buck stop at me anymore. When customers need help and I've a queue waiting to pay I apologise and say I'm on my own and have to cover check outs and will pop back if possible or ring bell and hopefully someone else will be able to help.
It's the people on the pharmacy counter I feel most for because at least if I make a mistake and give the wrong item/advice or leave people waiting there's no risk. It's a different kettle of fish when you're dealing with medication and sick people.

A branch of a well known chemist was under fire for giving out wrong medicine recently. I think it may have resulted in a death. A pharmacist whistle blew but the chain denied it. Might have been on a Panorama. The pharmacist mentioned the busyness and stress. Perhaps go to an independent chemist instead....I wonder if the US dollars that have been pumped in the stores correlates to a detrimental shopping experience and squeezed/demoralised staff. Bet the original shopkeeper is whirling like a dervish in his grave.

I just am generally buying less stuff, unless it’s for my house and garden. I am in the US and from what you are describing it sounds like at least o my retail experience locally is a lot better. However I am in a part of the country with a booming economy and we are actually having a new mall built 10 minutes away, although it will have hundreds of apartments and lots of restaurants and a cinema so is more of the “new urban” variety. Reading the national papers malls are closing everywhere and many big chains are going bankrupt. At the rate we are going it wouldn’t surprise me if Amazon introduce their own currency.

Funny enough now you mention it yes I have noticed shops are becoming more understaffed.
It's like when the Goverment mention lowest unemployment for so many years,yes but how many are on zero hours or part time hours.About the only place I have noticed that doesn't have this problem is Primark.

Ill only use the self checkouts in our Tesco express as the poor staff are running round like headless chickens most of the time.

Even our big Tesco now has put the customer service till with the fags and lottery.
Honestly I very nearly just thought sod it I'll put it in charity bag and just buy the bigger size (just needed to swap a pack of school shirts)

I never buy makeup in store. They only tend to have a couple on the shelf and you don't know whose been trying them.

It does annoy me that shops stock 1 size of a product then want you to pay to have it delivered in store.

I always feel for staff in retail. Overworked and understaffed and often being treated like dirt too. I will say my favourite foundation was on offer in Debenhams and there was nobody to get it for me. I knew the shade literally just needed someone to get it out so I hung about for a while and in the end just got it myself. I do like online shopping but there's some things that are better to buy in person.

In Asda it can be so hard to find someone, although 9/10 they are super helpful when you do!

Just found this thread.

On Sunday I went to John Lewis and tried to buy Touche Eclat highlighter -no one on the YSL counter. I went to Boots thinking I'd have better luck - the place was deserted. I ended up on the Clarins counter as that was the only one staffed.

If Boots cut their staffing anymore there will be no one left. I avoid going in if at all possible. Same for M&S, although their food only stores seem marginally better.

I can't remember when i last went into any shop without either having made an appointment for a fitting (Rigby and Peller) or to pick up a pile of click and collect ( M&S, John Lewis).

The M&S click and collect is especially good, order yourself a range of sizes/colours and return any you don't want on the spot. You know when you order when they will be delivered to tbe store and how long they keep them, so pretty convenient and much easier than returning by post or courier.

I work for the company mentioned in panorama, and it's the same for us. While hours in my dept haven't changed, the shop had lost people that have not been replaced, and they don't get the time to do the stuff they need to do along side serving customers. We then get pulled out into the shop, which has an effect on our dept. They've just sold off a load of branches, after buying a different chain, so I think someone has overspent spectacularly.

Now our county's CCG has put in place new rules which mean we can no longer offer a popular service (nor can we manage our workload efficiently).

Working in retail is crap, but it offers the hours and flexibility I need right now

Both staff and customers are been taken for mugs by these multinationals. They expect staff to do the work of multiple people and expect customers to order/scan their own shopping.
I wonder how much online shopping makes in terms of people buying cheap stuff that turns out not to be suitable but returning it is too much hassle or put on the long finger and doesn't happen.
I discouraging people to try on in-store and obviously online must mean more people end up with stuff they don't want.

In our local Tesco there is one benighted soul battling to sort out 10 self-scan tills. Does it really need saying the tills freeze every 3 seconds? Unexpected item in bagging area - yes, my bad temper. Why does it have to be this painful for customer and staff?