why do retail staff complain about "no staff"

Physical shops can’t compete with online shops so they have minimum staff because the overhead of paying staff is one of the highest costs of any business. That’s all there is to it. One can argue that it was better without online shopping however that’s not really true, it was just different

On what basis might I speak to the Chairman or CEO of any of these companies?

Barleyfields

Here is an invitation to you come along to a Sainsburys,Tesco or ITV AGM's this coming year and you can speak to any of the Chairman or CEO's.ITV and Sainsbury hold there meetings in London and Tesco at Welwyn

I agree, margins are slim. Those profits not only have to pay wages and other overheads such as rent, business rates, insurance and fuel amongst other things, they also have to service debt and pay a dividend to shareholders without whose investment large companies would soon be in trouble.

HousePlantQueen

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.

They’re still on slim margins, they just sell an awful lot more than small shops. The markup % on food is low.

My daughter was in a self service M&S trying to buy groceries. The tills were constantly failing but there was only one member of staff who was working on the Returns desk. My daughter wrote a well thought out letter to management and they didn't reply!

I have worked in retail on and off over the years. I currently work in a small newsagents. The big supermarkets don't do stocking at night because of the extra costs. So it is normal daytime staff that get lumbered with it. Unfortunately it is the staff on the floor that bare the brunt of grumpy customer complaints. A smile goes a long way

I'm not surprised more people buy on line now as shop service is so bad, I hung on as long as I could but then sadly had to join them and rarely use a store now, it's easier to have a delivery and return if doesn't fit than serch for an item for hours in a shopping centre with no help and long queues. A vicious circle and the way of the world these days. In supermarkets I refuse to selfcheckout and shop less often because of queues which makes the queues longer as we buy more each time, it's a crazy world these days.

Bosses only see the wage bill, they try to get by with a little staff as possible. I worked in supermarkets for a lot of years and I will say they are very greedy. You complain, they pass it on to their staff but don't employ any more people, Asda for example their policy is' All staff have to work to 110% ' so that says it all

Astitchintime I have found the same problem with M&S very few staff to help and no wonder shop lifting is on the increase

Re children sitting in trolleys:
1. If they are sitting, their shoes are not in contact with any foodstuff
2. That is the purpose of the seat part of the trolley
3. Where would you suggest parents/ grandparents/ caters put their small child if they need to go into a food store?
And no, not all adults would steal from shops by feeding their children goods for which they have not paid.

Staff complain about "not enough staff" because there are not enough staff. Instead of giving them an entitled whinge, I try to be chirpy, polite and understanding. They're just employees, they're not responsible for sitting around a board table deciding on staffing cost-effectiveness. In any job these days, where people have to face Joe Public day in and day out, they must find it hard to resist braining some of the customers.

No staff is because people don't want certain types of jobs. Several years ago I was visiting in a professional capacity a plant nursery. It was on the outskirts of a relatively wealthy town where unemployment levels were low. The HR manager told me several people would start the job on a Monday morning then go out for lunch and would never return. It costs a lot of money to process a new employee and in the end the firm would rather offer overtime as it is cheaper than offer jobs to people who will not stay. So to clear tables and pick up after people is not in the top 20 jobs people want. I'm told by a neighbour that one of the most expensive supermarkets in our area can't keep staff. She left after about 10 weeks .

Lidl here is always short-staffed and the staff always loo stressed and pressurised.

Tesco staff here are friendly and very helpful.

I find that Lidl has a good way of deploying staff. It appears that all the staff, including managers (according to the badges) are trained to do more than one job within the store. This might include stock replenishment, removing cardboard waste or being on the till. Each person has an allocated till number and, if the queues build up, a member of staff already on a till will put out a call by number for a particular till to be opened.

There is always someone supervising the self check outs. When I engage in conversation with whoever is serving me, they speak positively about the company, mentioning good holiday allowances, sick pay and pension schemes. Perhaps I'm lucky in my choice of branch (Old Newton Road, Torquay) but it is a model from which other companies could learn, perhaps.

Exactly Rosies and Skydancer. We can no longer expect to have it all - good service and cheap prices. Those days have gone.

Exactly Skydancer - in a nutshell!

Fair enough Babs but shoppers cannot expect low prices, whike at the same time still enjoy fully manned tills, ull shelves ( stacked while stores are closed,)

the level of "service" of back in the day while store owners these days are also being squeezed by NI increases, a higher minimum wage (cutting down on the teenagers and students ) staff shortages, energy cost rises and (bottom line) the need to show profitability to avoid closures. Do you rember when Aldi looked like something out of Eastwrn Europe? Cardboard boxes ripped open on the shelves for you to help yourself, no customer service, I'm not sure they even took cards. But cheap if that was what we wanted. For comfort and service I would occasionally "treat" myself to a trip to M&S!
We as shoppers may also have to prioritise - comfort and service? Or cheap?

My DD works for a small chain of independent shops. The owner recently explained how more money each of the shops has to make to pay the new minimum wage plus the extra national insurance contributions. It amounted to hundreds of pounds per shop per month. To cover this, each of the shops has to MAKE the extra money not just TAKE that amount. As a former small shop owner, I know that getting/retaining/paying the staff is the biggest headache of all.

RosiesMaw2

Is this just a generalised moan about supermarkets?
Stop putting yourselves through the pain. Shop in smaller independent shops - OK it will cost you more but that’s the “price” of the UK’s obsession with cheap food. The big chains screw the farmers to the point where what the customer pays leaves him no possible profit. Cheap imports are the antithesis of responsibly sourced or humanely reared meat, thousands of air miles are clocked up to get you out of season fruit or veg and “convenient” plastic packaging adds to the landfill of the planet.
Vote with your feet- or keep going to Tesco/Morrisons/Asda etc and carry on subsidising their profits

Am afraid many can’t afford to shop for groceries in independent shops and on our high street there are no independent shops selling groceries. We are not hard up but have to watch what we spend and also help out our grown family so most of the time we have to shop where the prices are lower than in independent shops.
I think sone on GN are thankfully not short of a bob or two but not all of us are in the same boat.

dalrymple23

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?!!!!

try this
[email protected]

Sending recorded delivery letters to the Chairman and CEO of a large supermarket to complain about staffing levels is a complete waste of time and money. And buying just one share and attending the AGM will get you nowhere. Only the investors holding huge blocks of shares have any clout and much more important matters than staffing levels in your local branch will be on the agenda. You will not be able to ‘speak direct to the boss’.

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

On this subject which has filled many pages of posts in the past, does anybody actually put uncovered foodstuffs in their trolley?
Mine goes straight into my shopping bags having been self scanned with the “gun” provided - but no doubt this will prompt another gazillion column inches about self scanning.

Is this just a generalised moan about supermarkets?
Stop putting yourselves through the pain. Shop in smaller independent shops - OK it will cost you more but that’s the “price” of the UK’s obsession with cheap food. The big chains screw the farmers to the point where what the customer pays leaves him no possible profit. Cheap imports are the antithesis of responsibly sourced or humanely reared meat, thousands of air miles are clocked up to get you out of season fruit or veg and “convenient” plastic packaging adds to the landfill of the planet.
Vote with your feet- or keep going to Tesco/Morrisons/Asda etc and carry on subsidising their profits

Children in trolleys, usually eating stuff parents have got off the shelf and don't pay for. Everyone should have a receipt for goods leaving the store. No wonder shoplifting is so rife.no more armfuls of stuff in arms, should be in a bag, if they do not bring one, buy one.. Train managers better to handle staff. Saturday not one scanner available they were all in a trolley somewhere waiting to be taken back to their proper place. Its so sloppy.