I'm in that situation frequently. Maybe it's due to the fact that I had a small store and truly valued business that came my way. Customer service was the extremely important to me. I realized that people could purchase their Lilly online and I wanted to give them a reason to come into my shop and buy it from me. Our business was built on relationships - many that I still hold dear to this day.
As I mentioned in my previous post, "the daughter - aka the ballerina" transferred to her school in S.C. in January. She is on a large campus and we were told she would not need a car. Big Mistake. We should have been told "she will not need a car UNLESS she is a dance major". In addition to trips to Whole Foods, she's had many occasions where she'll need something last minute that she could not have anticipated. As a result, I have become very good friends with our UPS store. Yesterday, however even UPS couldn't help me. She needed some shoes for today and it was going to cost me $80 to ship them. I just couldn't make myself do it.
There HAD to be another option.
Since she couldn't find a ride to the local ballet store. I called them to see if they had the shoes (they did) and if I could pay them to get them to her (they were 10-15 min away). They said it would be $30 to ship overnight. I agreed to do that but had also asked if anyone who worked there would be near the campus? (hint: can you go a little out of your way?!) I would have been happy to pay that money for someone to drive them to her dorm. No dice. She will now get to walk 15 min to the mailroom - each way, between class and rehearsal to pick up the package. It's not a huge problem but it just amazes me that I couldn't even pay someone to go the extra mile (okay 5 miles). I realize I was asking them to go out of their way, but it is interesting to me that there were at least 2 people in the shop and neither thought, "Hey, I can drive over after work...not a problem".
Something similar happened to me a few months ago. I needed to send another something to daughter and I was sick that day and really didn't want to brave the weather, etc. I thought I'd call a store in our historic area to give them some business. I began the conversation by asking if they could mail overnight - I needed her to have the item the next day. I was speaking with the owner of the store (who I knew) who said, yes - she would get it there over night. I paid her and before we hung up made sure she was going to have it there the following day. She then said that she actually wouldn't be sending it until the next day because she was the only person in the store and open til 5pm. I told her that the UPS store (which she would drive past to get home) was open until 7pm but she refused to stop. She told me that I could pick it up from her store - which frankly, is not convenient for me. I told her to cancel the transaction. If I was going to have to go out and mail the item myself, I was going to go to another store with a better location. Which I did. I haven't been back to that store since.
I guess these situations bother me because I hear people complaining about lack of jobs and small businesses that can't afford to stay open and I think to myself,
"maybe if they went the extra mile"
"maybe if employees paid attention to customers more than their cell phones" ...
maybe...
the ballerina will be returning to campus after spring break, with her car.
make that, definitely.
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