why do retail staff complain about "no staff"

Regarding recorded delivery and signed letters,I sent four recorded delivery to the Chairman and CEO to the two separate U.K. head offices and never got a reply,I did not think at the time to ask to see a copy of the signature that had been scrawled on my recorded delivery letters.

On a separate issue, to those parents/guardians who allow their children to sit in shopping trolleys whilst their parents/guardians do the shopping.Do parents/guardians not think their children's shoes have not stepped in something nasty outside on the pavements?
I would not approach any member of uniformed staff to express my concerns,if I could find a manager I would express my thoughts to them,parents/guardians please don't allow your children to sit in the trolleys.Just think next time you are putting your food and fruit and vegetables in your trolley.
There are enough bugs going around to cause stomach upsets without adding to them when it could be avoided.

Just read the post about contacting Tesco. I am assuming it still works as I havent used it for some time, but if I dont get a reply I will send a letter recorded delivery. someone has to sign for that and you get a slip stating when it was delivered. Then wne they try to say they nave never received the letter you tell them that you have the slip to prove that they did receive if, and either they are doing nothing, or the staff that signed for it did not pass it on to the appropriate people. It works wonders as you have the proof that they did get the letter and then letters to the local or general newspapers will bring them bad publicity. I find that that tends to galvanise them into doing something.

IWhen I have been in a situation that had problems, I would first of all look and see what the problems were. Then as I have been in charge of many staff I would look to see why there was a problem and decide what I thought might help. then I would act. Firstly, unless they themselves were not making any effort, I would never blame the staff who were there. As it used to be when I was head of communications, people complain to the person on the shop floor or answering the phones but they are neither responsible for the problem, nor have they the authority to change the situation.

e.g. On fridays the local Tesco had 12 check outs available but only 3 with staff there , and there were long queues. A man was moaning to the checkout staff, who was trying to serve someone else as quickly as possible. I asked the lady in front of me to watch my trolley, and went to the managers office. The woman there was on the phone quite busy. I waited for her to finish then said "you only have 3 checkouts available and there are lots of queues at al three. would you please send down more staff. She replied in a very off hand manner that they were on coffee break etc etc. So I just looked at her and said I have approximately £80 of goods in my trolley, You may put them all back as I have waited and now have no more time to waste. I started to walk away and she suddenly was galvanised to start dealing with it.. She called over a young girl and she came down with me to the checkouts. She opened up the checkout and I went to put my trolley first. The man who had been moaning said he should go first. But I said to him, you did nothing but complain to the wrong person, whereas i did something practical and got it sorted.

So there were a couple of other occasions when the same thing happened, to the point where as soon as she saw me coming the managress would say I am sending someone down now. I said to her you need to improve the situation for both your customers and yourselves. There are many young mothers who would love a job that fitted in with their childcare. You could offer a job of 10-2 that fits in with school times where a couple of people could go round covering for coffee breaks and lunches. The result would be less stress for your staff, better service for the customers, and you would get more custom if people knew that on their lunch break they could be served quickly. the end result for the part timers would be that as their children grew up, they would have learnt the ways you worked and then would be available to take on a full time job , where you know that you have already trained them . If someone has been with you for a couple of years and it suits their homelife you are more likely to keep them as staff anyway. A win win situation.

I moved house and had previously used the disabled buggy in Tesco. When I arrived here I went to the local Tesco and asked for the buggy to which they replied that they didnt have one as the store was too small. I spoke to the staff and gave them a couple of weeks to do something. Nothing happened so I went directly to the head of Tesco, used stick and carrot, as I explained the situation, the lack of effort from the head office etc, That disabled people also spend money and that I had done my research and there was no buggies at another supermarket either. They both had fold up wheelchairs, but as these give no support to the lower back they are absolutely no use to me and cause me more pain. So I persisted and they eventually got a buggy put in. In the beginning I was the person that used it most and a few other people also used it, but then I was spreading the word , so someone at a meeting said their mil was coming but they did not know how she would manage round the shop etc. She was pleased to hear about the buggy at Tesco. I have spread the word and now I sometimes have to wait for it to come back as it is so popular. So this is my way of working

1. give a fair chance, it may be a one off situation
2, think of what you are going to say, so what is the problem and what might be done to sort it out
3. complain to the right person, not the poor check out person.
4. At the time speak about the problem, but also follow up with a written complaint or thanks for problem sorted.
5. If you get no satisfaction , besides going elsewhere yourself spread the word and get others to do the same.Also contact the head office and explain why you are no longer a customer
6. use the local media. Making sure that you are sticking to the facts, send a letter to the local paper, speak on the local radio etc etc. I make it clear that i have no intention of dropping the matter and especially regarding safety. so at christmas I often have to speak to them about blocking aisles with the extra goods. I remind them that the buggy needs the space to turn properly, and more importantly they only operate the store with the fire certificate in place. If what they have done contravenes the fire certificate then the fire brigade can come in and insist that they make sure things are safe or they will fin themselves closed down.

if you are persistant but polite, they soon get to know that you will not be fobbed off and that something needs to be done. You are also making things better for the staff at the lower level who do their best and have to hear all the complaints but have no authority to change things. My methods are always from the "Do as you would be done by" ways. Once you are known by the staff , it also becomes easier for them as they know that you will persist until something does happen to improve the situation. I am sure that many managers think "oh no not her again!£ but that doesnt worry me. I feel that I have the right to be listened to politely and that where possible they will deal with problems and not just ignore them .Join me and if we stick to these rules things might improve , but at least we have tried to do something about them.

These days any one with "Manager" on their name badge is there to manage, even if they only have one member of staff they(the Manager) is not there to work,they are there to manage.
If anyone really wants to speak to the boss's of BT Tesco,Sainsbury,and transport company's etc,buy one share and you can attend there AGM'S and speak direct to the boss.

Back in the late 90s Asda opened a big new store in Cornwall. The employment situation was very bad at the time so the majority of us had never worked in a supermarket before, but were just accepting any job we were offered. We all had extensive training before the store opened, and the store manager was a man who's job was travelling round opening new stores. I was in the cafe, which was very cheap and hugely popular. When it was very busy we would put out a call for help with table clearing. If no one came we would put out a second call and at this point the store manager would arrive with his sleeves rolled up and bringing several department managers with him. He said he knew that the second call for help meant it was serious. I doubt if this happens now.

Have tried these: also, naming and shaming on social media really works. By this I mean Twitter or Facebook.

Lucky you, ayse. I have been trying to get a response from Tesco for well over a month. They used to be very good but have now stopped replying to any complaint. All the call centres are now overseas, where there can be a language barrier, If you look at their website, there is no telephone number or email address for head office in Welwyn Garden City. I even resorted to typing a letter and sticking an expensive stamp on an envelope. They could not bother to reply. If anyone has any bright ideas how to get around this and speak to an actual human in head office, please let me know. Have you ever tried explaining "Welwyn" to a foreigner?!!!!

Morrisons in my town is the same, staff always moaning and run off their feet, only couple of checkouts open, even on Saturdays, it really puts you off shopping there.
Also alot of the self service checkouts out of order, prices still going up though.
Hate shopping for food.☹️

Before Christmas I was in Morrisons and using the self service. As usual, I had an argument with the till. I waited for 10 minutes or so. There was one member of staff to manage both the trolly self service and the basket self service. She was run off her feet. She told me there were just no more staff due in. Bearing in mind in was lunch time I asked to speak with the supervisor. He was busy talking to a mate (obvious by the language they were using). I waited! In the end I butted in an insisted on speaking to him. He had the gall to tell me he’d mention it to the member of staff! I was enraged! I told him he ought to be helping, not standing round chatting.

I complained online to the company. I had a call the same day from the store manager. I explained about the occurrence and made it very clear that it was the supervisor I was complaining about, not the member of staff.

I dislike self service but they can be quicker BUT they have to have enough staff on to keep them moving. They could take a leaf out of Aldi’s book where there are 8 self service and there is always a member of staff available.

Do retail businesses set staff numbers on the basis that Y amount of staff will not arrive? That reads as if stores are employing far more people that they really need to. A small margin for holidays and occasional sickness but not excessively so as that would add hugely to costs.

Employing staff isn’t just the cost of their wages. It’s employer’s NIC (now increasing), running the payroll, pension schemes, recruitment costs, training, employer’s liability insurance, statutory sick pay, the element of maternity pay that can’t be reclaimed from HMRC, equipment, uniforms and sundry other things.

An employee on minimum wage, which many retail staff are, would cost the business between £39,000 and £45,000 per year to employ - which is effectively doubling the wage costs per staff member.

Tesco has over 800 large stores and over 2000 small stores in the UK. Say it added another 20 staff to each of its large stores and another two staff to each of its small stores. That’s another 20,000 staff costing £45,000 each to employ. That’s 900 million a year so almost a billion a year extra costs. In 2023/24, they made 2.3 billion pre-tax profit. It would have to think very hard before adding another billion to the wage bill. And how would the other chains compete?

We waited 15 minutes for two coffees in a well-known coffee chain in a hospital yesterday.
They really did need more coffee machines and more staff.

nanna8

Staff are expensive but supermarkets make huge profits and can easily afford to pay for them, especially young ones on lower wages. No excuses, just money making . If there is a problem with shoplifting pay staff to stop it at the door or check everyone’s receipt like KMart and Costco do here.

I agree. Small shops may be on slim margins, but the big supermarkets certainly are not.

nanna8

Aldi has more staff than any of our other supermarkets. They are polite and quick,too. It is cheap but also very good. They keep prices low because they have less stock but what they have is well chosen. A lot of the staff are uni students doing shifts, there is always a demand for jobs from them and they don’t mind the wage structure. Same applies to most fast food places.

Are you talking about Australia or do you have insider information on the UK?
Not every town has university students on hand!
The abolition of zero hours contracts will also hit many establishments who cannot afford to keep staff on during quiet spells.

Cabbie21

The best staffed shop I know is Boundary Mills. It has only a few out-of-town stores so may not be known to everyone. (Colne, Newcastle, Grantham, Walsall) There are always staff around willing to help customers, especially in the Pavers shoe section. The queue for the checkouts is long but moves quickly are there are plenty of tills open. Also free, easy parking, individual fitting rooms, toilets, café- and plenty of bargains. No, I don’t have shares in the company, I just enjoy shopping there.

I don’t miss the Ribble Valley weather, I do however miss Boundary Mill!

Their Colne flagship store is fabulous.

We did a huge trolley dash to kit out for holiday let, we had two trollies piled high, staff insisted we went to one of the restaurants for tea whilst they processed it, an hour later it was all beautifully and carefully packed and ready for us to take home.

The family that own the business are just lovely, they have an hotel in Yorkshire we used to frequent, Mr Bannister senior would always come over and chat, he would remember details of previous conversations, the atmosphere in there was always great.

I think they must treat their staff well!

Aldi has more staff than any of our other supermarkets. They are polite and quick,too. It is cheap but also very good. They keep prices low because they have less stock but what they have is well chosen. A lot of the staff are uni students doing shifts, there is always a demand for jobs from them and they don’t mind the wage structure. Same applies to most fast food places.

The best staffed shop I know is Boundary Mills. It has only a few out-of-town stores so may not be known to everyone. (Colne, Newcastle, Grantham, Walsall) There are always staff around willing to help customers, especially in the Pavers shoe section. The queue for the checkouts is long but moves quickly are there are plenty of tills open. Also free, easy parking, individual fitting rooms, toilets, café- and plenty of bargains. No, I don’t have shares in the company, I just enjoy shopping there.

Isn’t it obvious why retail staff ‘complain about no staff’? It’s because there’s a shortage of staff for all the reasons stated above. I’m another who doesn’t understand the OP’s point.

I bought coffee in a Muffin Break yesterday - it was busy and the 3 assistants run off their feet. There was a run of 7 tables facing the counter - all, bar 2 occupied, so I took one, moving the dirty crockery into my tray for collection. Gradually, custom eased off and I moved the dirty stuff from my table onto the next door table, which had been vacated. I then noted that all the other tables were piled high with dirty crockery, but one assistant then disappeared (break or home time) and all those tables remained piled high, at least until after I’d left.

Maybe the cold weather has brought more folk out to browse around shopping centres?

Babs03

I am annoyed by the fact that all over Xmas and now Lidl near us brings humungous trolleys stacked with goods to stack shelves that block an aisle and prevent shoppers from getting goods off the shelves behind the trolley. I banged my ankle trying to get round one of these monstrosities and said to the staff member that perhaps they should pay staff to do this task after hours, at which the staff member laughed and said that would mean paying more to whoever worked that shift so it just wasn’t going to happen.
We went to Sainsburys instead last time.

How do you think Lidl and Aldi keep their prices low?
If you want personal service go to independent shops on the high street - but be prepared to pay for the privilege.

What is your point?
Hospitality is notoriously short staffed these days, as are both the retail sector and social care.
Why? Lost staff who have gone back especially to East European countries - yes, Brexit - but also the cost of living in the UK is particularly hard on lower paid workers.
The hike in NI and energy costs has led to employers cutting back to remain competitive while cutting costs.
How many customers would Wetherspoons retain if they bumped their prices up or dispensed with the bottomless coffee?
Many people no longer want to work the low-pay anti-social hours they perceive part of the hospitality and retail sectors - evenings, weekends etc
So yes, if they say they are short staffed - they probably are.

I agree the massive stock filled trollies blocking aisles are a safety hazard and a nuisance for customers. Imagine trying to negotiate one in a wheelchair or pushing a pram.

argymargy

What is it that you don’t understand here OP? People are expensive, so virtually no business employs enough staff nowadays. There is no “slack” in staff numbers, and people are sick or have other reasons to be absent much more often.

Could understand this if is a small independent concern, but the supermarkets we are talking about make massive profits, yet no matter how much more the customer has to pay the services we get are lamentable.
Some of those profits should be passed on to the customers by providing better service.
I know that isn’t the way it is but imho this means we should challenge the way it is, otherwise things will just get even worse.

I am annoyed by the fact that all over Xmas and now Lidl near us brings humungous trolleys stacked with goods to stack shelves that block an aisle and prevent shoppers from getting goods off the shelves behind the trolley. I banged my ankle trying to get round one of these monstrosities and said to the staff member that perhaps they should pay staff to do this task after hours, at which the staff member laughed and said that would mean paying more to whoever worked that shift so it just wasn’t going to happen.
We went to Sainsburys instead last time.

My youngest son works for Sainsbury's and they cut staff all the time. The vast majority of their checkouts are now self service and there are less and less staff on the shop floor helping customers. Supermarkets were possibly the only ones who weathered Covid without any financial problems. People always have to eat but their solid financial position isn't reflected in pay for those near the bottom of the ladder.

I complained in M&S recently about the same thing. Nothing happened but I went online to complain formally. That led to a big shake up at my local M&S. Next time I was in the lady I'd complained to said that head office had visited and inspected and the manager was now actually on one of the tills!
I suppose if people don't make their feelings known to management nothing will ever improve.