No, We Don’t Carry that anymore

Was at Menards the other day looking for my usual dog food. They were reorganizing the store and stuff was moved. Fine. Looked for almost 10 minutes but couldn’t find the dog food which is a well known brand. Finally found an employee working in the pet area and asked. Half dazed, he said it would be right here if they still had it and basically went back to what he was doing. I couldn’t believe him so still kept searching and eventually found it in a non obvious area. Gee thanks for the help.

Was in Fleet Farm today and needed a replacement rod tip. Looked and looked couldn’t find them. Finally saw the rare employee and asked. Right away he said I don’t think we carry them but let me ask someone else. So he did his part and radioed a fellow employee. Quickly it was confirmed, we don’t carry those anymore. Disgruntled, I went down a few more half-empty isles before deciding to leave. Thinking I’d have to order it online I guess. As I was leaving the last isle, there they were. It was actually about the only thing in sporting goods that WAS stocked. A bunch of tips and glue.

WTF???

Yeah they are struggling. I noticed in most FFs much if the ice fishing stock sat in crates most of the winter because they didn’t have enough people to put it on the shelves.

I know how frustrating it can be, but I try to give the workers some grace. IMO, retail jobs are the worst jobs ever. I worked at a farm and fleet store throughout high school 9ish years ago, and an auto parts store store through college. I was making minimum wage, working 30-45 hours per week, but still considered part-time so they didn’t have to offer benefits. I was also never trained on any of the products we sold, because that would require company time, and company time is money. I have sold 100’s of lawnmowers without knowing a single thing about them, just telling the customer what they want to hear.

I like to think I was always nice to customers, even when being talked down to for not knowing the differences between Purina and Nutrena horse feed. But there is no motivation for anyone to go the extra mile for the sake of the company. Department managers hate their jobs, the store manager hated their job, the regional manager tolerated his job because he was making decent money, but why would anyone want to work their way up to that when the company could not care less?

Sorry for the rant. But long story short, retail workers don’t care, and I don’t blame them.

I just always walk into them knowing I know more than 99% of the employees in there. Unless you get lucky and find the rare part time retired guy that actually enjoys talking to people

lindyrig79 wrote:

Looked for almost 10 minutes but couldn’t find the dog food which is a well known brand.

Is it Native? I went to pick up a bag the other day, and they appear to not carry it anymore. So, I guess we’re switching foods.

If possible, I do business with a couple of local small hardware stores and avoid Menards, FF, etc. The small stores frequently surprise me with breadth of products and good pricing. I worked for a retail giant for a decade. They treated me ok but I was in IT. Would never have worked on the stores side.

Probably going to get worse. For almost everything.

suzuki wrote:

Probably going to get worse. For almost everything.

I agree. No one really wants to do this kind of job on a daily basis, and we as customers expect too much sometimes.

I don’t even look for help from an associate anymore if I can’t find something. I just keep looking. If I can’t find it, oh well. But every once in a while if you look long enough and hard enough, you find what you’re looking for.

Ralph Wiggum wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>lindyrig79 wrote:</div>
Looked for almost 10 minutes but couldn’t find the dog food which is a well known brand.

Is it Native? I went to pick up a bag the other day, and they appear to not carry it anymore. So, I guess we’re switching foods.

I would rather buy local but the BIG BOX stores suck 95% of the time. My dog food, treats, etc. gets delivered from Chewy. It is usually cheaper also. They have just about every brand of pet food available and you can get it on a schedule with automatic shipping. Shipping is free.

Aside from a trusted Mom & Pop operation, the only place I get consistent, knowledgeable help is Scheel’s for sporting goods. And for hardware, my Local Ace Hardware which is locally franchised and operated (and operated very well). Worth a few extra pennies for most things.

You just realized this now? You been in your bunker last 2 years? Ever since FF sold out ten years ago or whatever it was, things are not where they should be. If you need it, they do have it, it just might be somewhere else or still boxed up.
I don’t complain about things like this because retailers are trying to hire more help EVERYWHERE. Perhaps picking up a part time job would help?

Fleet farm is a joke. And it started before Covid after new ownership so Covid is not all to blame there. I use to go there a couple times a month now I’m lucky to go there a couple times a years. Its pretty sad

Fleet Farm is in the same echelon as Walmart to me. Antiquated check out system is a huge headache, absolutely no investment into the store. Pretty sure half the employees are in Work-Release programs

I’ll 2nd Ace Hardware stores. Have been in 3 or 4 different in different cities and all of them have been well stocked with good employees and inventory.

I expect very very little from store employees. However, in this situation, how hard would it be for whoever this guy radioed to type in ‘rod tip’ into his computer.

And yes I don’t blame them for not caring. But it’s becoming a self fulfilling prophecy and contributing to their own demise.

Good customer service at most retail stores is a thing of the past. Everything from Big Box retailers to the smaller mom and pop locations are are saying that online sales is killing their business. I’m sure that is partly true. I also believe that lack of willingness to hire and train good employees and lack of willingness to pay a fair wage is as much or more of a factor. Most people that I know would be willing to pay a few more $’s and support the local business’s if they had product on hand and had employee’s who knew what they were talking about and we willing to help customers. If I go into a store and can never find what I’m looking for, and the employee’s are no help and have no knowledge of the products they are selling I might as well buy from a online retailer. The old idea of provide a quality product as a reasonable price supported by a knowledgeable staff and the rest will take care of itself is dying or totally gone.

It’s become a culture of not caring. Blame it on whatever you want, bottom line a large growing part of the workforce takes no pride in their work. It’s a burden, something they are above, and they’ll blame it on the “man” and every other thing out there to cover up their lazy entitledness.

If we had a large growing workforce on the opposite end of those things aforementioned you would see much different results than what we’re seeing today.

lindyrig79 wrote:

I expect very very little from store employees. However, in this situation, how hard would it be for whoever this guy radioed to type in ‘rod tip’ into his computer.

This, but also most stores website allow you to locate an item and it will even tell you what aisle they are in.

You guys sound like my dad….30 years ago.

Brian Klawitter wrote:

You guys sound like my dad….30 years ago.

You dad was a real Wise man 30 years ago correct ???

Apparently so. I remember him complaining that no one could count change back with out a calculator or cash register.

BUT at least there were employees then to bitch about.

I feel Menards always has employees that seem like they have no desire to be there. Fleet Farm has gone down hill big time since they were sold. The fishing section at my local FF wasnt really even stocked much all year long. Glad I have hoarded/”too much” gear to get me by these past few years.

Brick and mortar is dying a slow, painful death. Think of it as death by root canal – or something like that. There are obvious exceptions and I’m not saying I look forward to it, but traditional department stores, shopping malls, sporting goods stores, and ma and pa shops are all getting suffocated.

The logistics of cost are a problem. Volume is king. If you do not move an absolute pile of product, it’s hard for small margins to work out or to get favorable pricing on goods. Another thing working against brick and mortar as already outlined is labor – or lack thereof. People don’t want to work in retail settings, especially for the wages that are or have been present for the last decade or so. It irks me when people do not take pride in their work. On the flip side, for $15-18 an hour (before taxes with few benefits) – would you pour your heart and soul or a reasonable amount of effort into retail work? A promotion could bump you a few bucks an hour ahead of the 18 year old on the other side of the store who calls in sick once a week and can’t make change. Keep in-mind the price of living for a lot of these people is accelerating at the same rate it is for everyone else. The last straw is the online competition. For some of the retail stores to survive that we grew up remembering, a major shift is going to have to happen. Warehouses shipping to consumers is the way of the future (with obvious exceptions that everyone will point out). Even places like car dealerships are going to see this change. The days of miles of inventory and dealerships on every corner are going to come crashing down. The “Amazon” model is legitimately kicking a$$ and taking no prisoners. It’s just getting started.

I’ve got a 2 year old daughter and another on the way. I’ll be surprised if brick and mortar shopping malls are something they will even experience. We complain today about a lack of customer service. My kids will be able to complain about a lack of brick and mortar stores.

Shortly I will be heading down to the local diner for some pot roast with a stop at the local hardware store for some salt and lightbulbs. It almost feels nostalgic already.

Deuces wrote:

It’s become a culture of not caring. Blame it on whatever you want, bottom line a large growing part of the workforce takes no pride in their work. It’s a burden, something they are above, and they’ll blame it on the “man” and every other thing out there to cover up their lazy entitledness.

If we had a large growing workforce on the opposite end of those things aforementioned you would see much different results than what we’re seeing today.

This I agree with. Also kind of a younger generation type thing I have noticed. Maybe we can blame it on lack of discipline and respect. Along with accountability. Growing up I had no choice but to work my but off nothing was given to me. And respect was whooped in to me at a young age

On the other hand I bought 3 new guns at fleet farm Sunday. Glock for me, glock for the lady friend ( Valentines present) and a .17 for the boy and I to play with. They also had every round and shell I needed with out a limit. Went in there for a couple small things, walked out spending 1700 bucks on accident

Also half the employees know that this day and age, getting fired is pretty rare. Just showing up to work is now a skill set.

BK most can’t count back the correct change with a calculator or cash register today.