Sunday, March 04, 2007

Experiment Comments

In response to the comments on the Retail Bag experiment:
Unfortunately, due to security reasons, we are required to put as much into the bags as possible. Even if it is one item, for instance, a greeting card, it must be put in a small bag for the guest. This helps the security at our store know who went through the checklanes and who did not. It's basically store policy. If someone is seen walking to the door without a bag with no receipt showing (its often put in the pocket or the purse), then there is a chance that security will be suspicious unless he or she personally saw the guest pay. My little experiment was probably a little biased considering the fact that I try to "conserve" the bags that we give out because I know how much we need to order and how quickly we go through them, so I try and squeeze as much into the bags as possible, however, there are some people out there that are disgusted by that. It seems as if this procedure is a lose-lose situation. Our goal is to make the guest happy, and not ourself. So unfortunately, though it is a good idea, it cannot be completed.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's interesting. I didn't think about the security aspect. I'm not being negative towards your comment, but what happens if the guest simply refuses to take a bag as I often do? I've been known to just say no bag and grab my stuff. I have never been stopped by security.

Michelle said...

I hadn't considered the security issue, either. And like you, Kim, I often times refuse a bag. Whenever I decline to put my items in a bag, I make sure that the receipt is available just in case the security is suspicious. I've never had a problem with this practice.

:0) M

Andrea L. said...

Ashley, I was just wondering if security would have a problem with anyone bringing in their own bags into the store. Some stores don’t like you have any bags (i.e., backpacks) large enough that you could potentially use to stuff in stolen items.
The reason I thought about that was because one time while at the mall I had a store employee actually ask me for my shopping bags. She claimed it was their policy to keep them behind the cash register until shoppers were finished, due to problems with theft. Even though it is seems as though such a policy is and should beyond their control, they may be able to get by with prohibiting shoppers from bringing in their own bags.