To be annoyed at greedy people

[Pickledonion24]

Work in a shop we have tissue for wrapping delicate items and paper for any pictures. We also provide nice paper bags for free. These cost a bit being a small shop and having small Order quantities and no where to store a bigger order. I always wrap things well but I’m getting fed up of people asking for the price to be taken off each item then wrapped in tissue and separate bags as there gifts. If someone buys a big expensive item it’s never an issue they usally just ask for a bag I normally insist on wrapping it if I have time. But with the cheaper plastic gifts wooden ones tea towels anything under a fiver really. people then start demanding it to be wrapped well and individually bagged. Last week someone wrapped it themselves taking sheets and sheets of the paper while I was using the till to give her some change she didn’t ask either or give me time to do it myself. They normally say can you wrap it well it’s a gift or it’s traveling a long way home after my holiday. Isn’t that what wrapping paper is for and if traveling back to Scotland or Australia you would of thought of a way to provide its protection we are very generous with our packing using a good few sheets bubble wrap and paper but people always expect more. I will continue to grumble about it but will never stop them having extra bags and wrap due as I believe in good customer services. On a dead day if someone comes in for a last minute present and dosnt ask I will often wrap it really neatly take the price of and put it in a nice brown bag. As soon as I say the bags here are free they suddenly go from using there one in the bag or carrying it to wanting a million bags

Sounds like you have a thriving small business, selling nice things to people who appreciate them. Quit moaning. We could all just use Amazon and primark, god knows they're cheaper. When people support local business I think you do have to give added value.

A friend of mine runs a truly gorgeous shop, she happily wraps anything as long as she isn't too busy. It's part of what makes her service special, and keeps her customers from going online.

Better to hide the paper and bags then like Monsoon do.

The thing is, as Morris says, part of the fun and added value of going in a shop to buy this stuff is the 'experience' and that includes perhaps getting things wrapped, being made to look nice, having a nice bag to take away. This isn't cheeky at all to expect this from a gift shop!

I agree the person asking for extra tissue is just taking the piss, but if I were you, I'd keep a tally for the next week of reasonable/unreasonable requests for wrapping to see if it is really worth pissing off all your happy customers by starting to haggle over tissue.

If I were asked for 50p to cover basic wrapping in a small gift shop, I'd laugh. I certainly wouldn't get it wrapped. I'd expect them to have factored that in, otherwise put the prices up!

I think one or two cheeky customers isn't a reason to change what you do, but why don't you have a week's audit of wrapping, and see what really is excessive and what it cost you (if £5 for one cheeky fucker, then it's not that much, is it?) Then get a shelf built like the person recommended above, and use one sheet at a time. If you don't have time to wrap all the individual items, just say so- but bear in mind that that's why people are shopping with you, for personal service, cos you can buy teatowels and wooden hearts online much cheaper!

Move the wrapping and the bag, so that people have to ask and cannot reach it. If there isn't a queue, then wrap if they ask. If there is, wrap what you can and ask if they wouldn't mind waiting while you serve the customer waiting.

Oh, and maybe add a selection of priced gift boxes or bags with tissue paper/bubblewrap, that people can choose to buy, then if they want individual extra wrapping you can point them in that direction....

If I was asked for an extra 50p to wrap an item I'd think it was a bargain! You pay for the item and something to take it away in. You aren't entitled to have every little thing lovingly gift wrapped at the shops financial and time expense.

Some great ideas here already from just removing the paper away from grabby hands to charging a fee for wrapping. Use them.

90 percent of the items are homade so no you couldn’t just get them on Amazon. I wouldn’t go somewhere and ask for each item to be wrapped individually unless I was paying. we don’t have the time to start offering gift wrapping. If we do start charging and I do a terrible job or someone’s not happy they won’t want to pay.

The shop doesn't offer it for all goods...andrewThats the point of the post

The customers think they do (because OP does it). Perhaps she needs to learn the word no, then there wouldn't be any problem?

Customer "can you wrap every tea towel individual and put each one in a bag?"
OP: No. Sorry.

Easy.

Years ago when I worked in a posh body, fragrance and homecare shop we had a separate wrapping station. We were even given training on how to wrap properly, especially for round shaped products. The solution here is to keep the wrapping paper and bags behind or under the counter. Simple.

I think YABU, sorry. I think you should look at it as the personal service that a small shop offers to attract customers to buy things from your shop. Otherwise they could stay at home and buy on Amazon or pop into John Lewis.

Absolutely andrew

(Just because you don’t have to charge for plastic carrier bags by law (doesn’t apply to paper btw) doesn’t mean you can’t charge.)
You could maybe reduce the piss-taking by putting a charity box next to it, saying extra (if you offer one per customer) wrapping materials are available for a donation to (whichever) charity.
People will use less, those who do use get to feel good and you get to be a ‘community minded’ business.

This might be an opportunity to add additional revenue to your business. If many people are buying for gifts, they may be happy to pay for professional wrapping. Can you watch some you tube videos or find a friend to show you how to wrap nicely? Then you can offer proper wrapping for a charge. At busy times maybe have a teenager come in and wrap on a side table.

There’s an often overlooked aspect of business when it comes to customer service - the pickle principle - and the OP needs to apply it here.

What is more important to your business, saving on a few pence of tissue or having the customers come to your shop. A tea towel is a tea towel is a tea towel. You might have great one off designs, so does notonthehighstreet and dozens of other places on the internet and amazon/John Lewis do a great range of tea towels that are no doubt a lot cheaper than yours.

Customers go to boutique shops knowing that they’ll be paying a bit more but expect more in return or they’ll buy off the internet. That’s fundamental to surviving in modern business. Complaining that they want the items wrapped for free is leading down a slippery slope.

The Pickle Principle is taught in a lot of blue chip companies and was created by the owner of a hamburger restaurant in the states when he got the following letter:

“Dear Mr Farrell,

I’ve been coming to your restaurant for over three years. I always order a #2 hamburger and a chocolate shake. I always ask for an extra pickle and I always get one. Mind you, this has been going on once or twice a week for three years.

I came into your restaurant the other day and I ordered my usual #2 hamburger and a chocolate shake. I asked the young waitress for an extra pickle. I believe she was new because I hadn’t seen her before. She said, “Sir, I will sell you a side of pickles for $1.25.” I told her, “No, I just want one extra slice of pickle. I always ask for it and they always give it to me. Go ask your manager.”

She went away and came back after speaking to the manager. The waitress looked me in the eye and said, “I’ll sell you a pickle for a nickel.” Mr Farrell, I told her what to do with her pickle, hamburger and milkshake. I’m not coming back to your restaurant if that’s the way you’re going to run it”

A slice of pickle that cost cents to the restaurant lost them a customer.

He’s built a whole consulting business around this - PicklePrinciple and I highly recommend the OP buys his book and takes the time to read it.

And next time a customer asks you to wrap something they’ve bought from you - give ‘em the pickle

I have a similar pickle principle tale of why I rarely go to a well known pub chain to eat. We were there one day with another family, and between us (over 12 people) we ordered 7 of one dish, some others and paid upfront. Everyone was spread about, and sharing food, and half way through they rushed up to us saying that one extra Caesar salad had been sent to the table which wasn't ours. By then someone had eaten a bit of it. They made us feel like criminals, saying things like 'you accepted the salad' when of course it had been plonked down, children were at the other end of the table, and it was their error for having confidently placed it on our table along with lots of other sides etc. They made a big show of going to get the roaming credit card so we could pay for the salad, instead of saying 'our error, don't worry' in which case we would have offered to pay anyway! We felt terrible, we'd paid over £100, nearer £150 to sit there and be made to feel like we had stolen something, all over a measly salad. My friends would never go there again, I go occasionally but far less than before. Between us we spend £40 every couple of weeks in such a place, two families- this was £100's worth of business a year lost of over a cheap salad which they delivered to our table by error anyway!

Yes, don't be mean over the pickle, OP. If it genuinely is hurting your bottom line, you can a) increase prices b) offer a proper wrapping service and make people pay c) move the wrapping paper away from the till and only get it out for delicate items d) suck it up.

On the other hand, I believe Pizza Express saved millions a year by supplying one less olive on one pizza - 20odd years ago. No one seemed to mind.

That pickle principle story made me cringe my whole self nearly inside out. Could you be any more patronising?

All it's missing is the customer issuing a wry chuckle and telling the customer service manager, 'son, when I was in the army, we got pickles for free because this is the United States of America!'

Then they ask for them to be wrapped individually I say yes because customer service is key

Being a doormat is NOT conducive to good business!

Place a note on the counter - "Gift Wrapping Service - please ask before making payment, £x for small items, £x for medium and £x for large"
That way when a customer asks, you can say "yes, of course, that will be £x" and add it straight onto their bill.

It doesn't matter whether you're an independent shop or a high street chain - gift wrapping is an EXTRA service and most places charge for it.

No lots of quality gift shops do include basic gift wrapping, it is not unusual.

And don't allow people to help themselves to your gift-wrap or anything else!

brasty
They will have included the cost of materials into their pricing structure.....no business which wants to make a profit will give away materials for free on a regular basis....

I know that, which is why several people have advised OP to include it in the costs. But not to charge an additional fee.

I think if I were in you shoes I would either go on a gift wrapping course and offer the service at an additional cost or say “I’m afraid we don’t offer gift wrapping. We only wrap fragile items for protection”.

You need to factor the cost of packaging into the goods