The 'Something For Nothing' Brigade...

[herewegoagain.]

Every now and then, I will get a 'customer' into my shop who will seem to take delight in telling me that 'this product or that product' that I sell is 5p, 10p, 20p (small amounts) cheaper in this shop or that shop...

My normal response is 'we do have lots of special offers' (eg, but two get 50p off' etc...)

Today, this gentleman came in and said this product was 30p cheaper in a similar shop - wait for it.... 15 miles away...

I am normally quite patient, but today I said to him, 'well with such a brilliant deal, why don't you purchase it from there?... but see if it is still such a good deal once you have paid for your petrol or bus fare?'

Then you get the 'hagglers', now it is not like I sell white goods, or cars... the dearest thing in my shop is £16 !!
I must admit, if a customer is spending over say £20 - I will round it down to the last £1 - and tell them - normally they are quite happy with this... if they want more off (!) I tend to say that I cannot negotiate my rent or diesel - jokingly of course...

A lot of the time I want to say - 'I have a fitting room too - if you would like to try anything else on!'.

Slightly rude? possibly.... all said 'tongue in cheek' - but of course, shopkeepers are human too (?!) there are just times I really get sick of cheapskates, who really do want something for nothing....

Do these people not understand that we have rent, rates, electric, water, telephone, diesel, wages (yes... last on the list...) (I am sure we can all relate to that one!)

I am competitive on price - not the cheapest, not meant to be - but I always run promotions - to try and shift the stock in volume - and that the promotions have to be paid for somewhere!

Does anyone else get like this??

 

[deniser]

We had a customer who came in with her three grandchildren and bought them each a toy in the sale (with very little profit margin). She then pointed to something else she thought they might like and said she would like them each to have a souvenir of their visit. When I asked for the money she said, no, she expected the souvenir to be free. They were £5 each, more than the profit I had made on the original sale. She became really nasty when I said if she wanted them she had to pay for them. I was so shocked that I just handed them over!!!

 

[herewegoagain.]

We had a customer who came in with her three grandchildren and bought them each a toy in the sale (with very little profit margin). She then pointed to something else she thought they might like and said she would like them each to have a souvenir of their visit. When I asked for the money she said, no, she expected the souvenir to be free. They were £5 each, more than the profit I had made on the original sale. She became really nasty when I said if she wanted them she had to pay for them. I was so shocked that I just handed them over!!!

God she had a brass neck ! expecting them for nothing, do these people not understand that you have had to pay out to buy the stock in? you were not given it free... I would not have given them to her !! especially someone who was nasty... the only thing I would have given her was directions to the door!!

We must be mad - the pair of us !!

 

[gr9ce]

deniser....rendered speechless...and wonder faced with the same situation what I would do....

People keep quiet re good service and moan copiously re bad but one wonders if that woman went out and broadcast to her friends what a wonderful store giving freebies.

We do now tend to tell 'discount' chancers that we do have overheads and that we are sure they would prefer to have the independent shops around to help, give advice and provide items in the future....with a big smile...

We also have a box under the counter marked with a car tyre imprint to take our frustration out on when wasting time on the retail equivalent of the 'tyre kicker'!

 

[herewegoagain.]

To quote gr9ce...

'People keep quiet re good service and moan copiously re bad but one wonders if that woman went out and broadcast to her friends what a wonderful store giving freebies.'

People do keep quiet about good service, and moan about EVERYTHING else...

I would hazard a very educated guess that the woman who got the freebies thought and probably said 'what a soft touch' and spreads the word that 'chancers' are welcome at that shop - they too might get something for nothing! - a slippery slope !!....

 

[deniser]

Well I don't know what came over me except that I regretted it seconds later!

 

[MBE1]

I had a lad ask to buy a phone charger from myself, he had left his at home whilst visiting a friend nearby, then mentioned he was in the trade and he expected trade price.

Personally I see no problem and never refuse a discount request, so I simply asked him how many hundred he was going to buy, when he said just one, I replied that was a retail sale, not trade and charged the full amount.

 

[herewegoagain.]

Well I don't know what came over me except that I regretted it seconds later!

Bless Ya ! It is enough to put anyone into shock the cheek of your customer !!

 

[herewegoagain.]

I had a lad ask to buy a phone charger from myself, he had left his at home whilst visiting a friend nearby, then mentioned he was in the trade and he expected trade price.

Personally I see no problem and never refuse a discount request, so I simply asked him how many hundred he was going to buy, when he said just one, I replied that was a retail sale, not trade and charged the full amount.

That is a good one !! imagine if you had have sold the one at 'trade price'...
it would have cost you your time to go and get it (or postage), your time to serve them, the cost of your bag... etc.... they make you laugh eh !

 

[SweetJo]

Oh yes, we get this a lot. The one that sticks in my mind the most is a woman wanting a little bar of toffee. We sold them for 65p at the time. When she realised this she told me they are much cheaper in the newsagents down the street. I kindly asked her how much they were in the newsagents, I was rather worried they were really undercutting us.
"Sixty three pence" she announced. She couldn't be bothered to walk back there so bought one from us that one occasion.

People just don't realise everything we have to pay for before even making a profit. They have no idea how much things cost me to buy. One lady asked for her sweets to be put in a gift bag with a ribbon. She didn't want to pay 30p extra, so she took them in a brown paper bag - as a present for her friend! The poor friend

One from this afternoon - "I'm not being cheeky but you can get those cheaper from the Pound Shop". Er, yes, you ARE being cheeky!

Another one is sweet trees. People claim they can make them cheaper themselves. Well of course they can! They don't have rent, rates etc to pay. I hardly make anything on them anyway. I bet they'll regret it once they start though, they're time consuming and fiddly to make :redface:
xx

 

[Bobadob]

I cant beleive you gave the woman the souvenirs for free - where is your shop i am coming over. we have a saying "Dont get offensive, get expensive"! Works really nicely when someone has been a pain to deal with.
Happy Friday to you all

 

[SweetJo]

I cant beleive you gave the woman the souvenirs for free - where is your shop i am coming over. we have a saying "Dont get offensive, get expensive"! Works really nicely when someone has been a pain to deal with.
Happy Friday to you all

I was in a cafe once and they have a lovely wooden sign saying something along the lines of "if you're not going to be nice, get out". I thought it was great! I want one.

 

[oldoakey]

I've just had a couple in this week desperate for a chair for their poorly elderly mum, so I spent time with the man initially about an hour explaining what I would recommend for the lady suggesting a lift & rise chair that would actually be cheaper than what they originally came in for.

Then the wife followed in later in the afternoon and I went through it gain and offered brochures with all the dimensions, loaned them the pattern books so they could see if the fabric looked OK and my recommendation of what I thought would be the best fit for her.

Later on they rang me to say they had found the same thing cheaper on the web, never saw them again - bloody cheek!!

Makes you just want to say get Paxo

 

[HGSecurity]

I've just had a couple in this week desperate for a chair for their poorly elderly mum, so I spent time with the man initially about an hour explaining what I would recommend for the lady suggesting a lift & rise chair that would actually be cheaper than what they originally came in for.

Then the wife followed in later in the afternoon and I went through it gain and offered brochures with all the dimensions, loaned them the pattern books so they could see if the fabric looked OK and my recommendation of what I thought would be the best fit for her.

Later on they rang me to say they had found the same thing cheaper on the web, never saw them again - bloody cheek!!

Makes you just want to say get Paxo

I do it the other way round. We like to buy local as much as possible, but don't like paying over the odds, so I find what I want online, then go to the local retailer and say 'match it or get close and you get the business'.

Win win - we get the goods locally at the right price with local backup if anything goes wrong, they get a sale.

 

[MBE1]

People just don't realise everything we have to pay for before even making a profit. They have no idea how much things cost me to buy. One lady asked for her sweets to be put in a gift bag with a ribbon. She didn't want to pay 30p extra, so she took them in a brown paper bag - as a present for her friend! The poor friend

Had a 99p shop open a few years back and a low income family were walking past a stall I had on a market when they bumped into some friends, the week before xmas. They had a trolley full of gifts, all 99p for family and friends.

Normally I can keep a straight face in front of people, but when they began telling their friends of the fabulous gifts they had purchased, everyone single one from the 99p store. They then produced the highlight of their shopping trip, a toilet seat, as an xmas present.

I couldn't stop laughing for half an hour, imagining the face of the recipient on opening their gift on xmas day and the ensuing thanks.

 

[David1962]

One lady asked for her sweets to be put in a gift bag with a ribbon. She didn't want to pay 30p extra, so she took them in a brown paper bag - as a present for her friend! The poor friend

And that is where you are losing out my friend. The cost to you would be 2p plus maybe 30 seconds of your time to get a pair of scissors and add a nice bit of ribbon.

B&M, Poundland, Tesco can't do that, and that's why people come to you.

Yes poor friend, poor customer, poor feedback for you. And all for the sake of 2p.

 

[Nuno]

Had a 99p shop open a few years back and a low income family were walking past a stall I had on a market when they bumped into some friends, the week before xmas. They had a trolley full of gifts, all 99p for family and friends.

Normally I can keep a straight face in front of people, but when they began telling their friends of the fabulous gifts they had purchased, everyone single one from the 99p store. They then produced the highlight of their shopping trip, a toilet seat, as an xmas present.

I couldn't stop laughing for half an hour, imagining the face of the recipient on opening their gift on xmas day and the ensuing thanks.

Yes, laughing at less fortunate people is always such fun...

 

[mhall]

My husband never ceases to make me smile when faced with what he calls "Martin Lewis Morons"

Customer: What will you give me for cash
Hubby: A receipt !

Customer: What discount can I have
Hubby: Why would you want discount ?
Now flummoxed customer: Er, I don't know......but if you don't ask, you don't get
Hubby: Well now you've asked and you still don't get.

 

[arcon5]

Frankly as a consumer I don't care what your overheads are. Your not there to be my friend, your there to maximise your return on investment, as a consumer I seek to get value for money.
Now if I make an offer on an item, in most cases its declined, fair enough, what's not fair enough is having the worker give off a sarcy response. With that kind of service you are not doing yourself any favours.

As somebody who always used to get asked for freebies I found it frustrating but was always upfront about the price and never wavered, always respectfully declining

 

[swankypants69]

Whilst you may not care about a retailers/businesses overheads arcon, the overheads exist and have to be factored in, so you should care about the overheads as you are paying for them when you shop in any bricks and mortar store

I don't often have people make offers. On high value items I am often open to offers. However, consistent moaning about prices and getting things cheaper elsewhere can be really tiresome for independent retailers. Making money in retail can be really tough.

 

[arcon5]

No the overheads isn't the customers concern. I bet when you see a product for £5 more than it is in say wilkos you don't buy it and think 'well fair enough they have a bigger store'.

 

[swankypants69]

Well actually that is exactly what I do because I am an independent retailer so as far as possible I spend my hard earned money in other independent stores

That's my personal choice

I try as hard as possible not to go into wilkos or B&Ms or any other value store

 

[Hunnie]

Hello,
Let's face it people want to save money (or at least feel as if they have) especially in these harder times for all.

I have only ever had two customers try to barter my prices down. I treated it as a bit of fun and had a some friendly banter but didn't give way. He and his wife still bought the items.

If I sense hesitation on price I sometimes say if they spend over a certain amount (always slightly more than they are considering) I can give a 5% reduction-just to encourage the spend.

But it is more difficult when customers just say loudly that this item is cheaper on the internet- or whatever and don't engage with me at all. If I am helping someone else it's not always possible/polite to react to them anyway.

Regards
Hunnie

 

[deniser]

I often give big discounts to people who are genuinely hard up and to regular loyal customers (who do not ask for a discount) but not to people who turn up in expensive cars and clothes and haggle for the sake of it.

 

[herewegoagain.]

Oh yes, we get this a lot. The one that sticks in my mind the most is a woman wanting a little bar of toffee. We sold them for 65p at the time. When she realised this she told me they are much cheaper in the newsagents down the street. I kindly asked her how much they were in the newsagents, I was rather worried they were really undercutting us.
"Sixty three pence" she announced. She couldn't be bothered to walk back there so bought one from us that one occasion.

People just don't realise everything we have to pay for before even making a profit. They have no idea how much things cost me to buy. One lady asked for her sweets to be put in a gift bag with a ribbon. She didn't want to pay 30p extra, so she took them in a brown paper bag - as a present for her friend! The poor friend

One from this afternoon - "I'm not being cheeky but you can get those cheaper from the Pound Shop". Er, yes, you ARE being cheeky!

Another one is sweet trees. People claim they can make them cheaper themselves. Well of course they can! They don't have rent, rates etc to pay. I hardly make anything on them anyway. I bet they'll regret it once they start though, they're time consuming and fiddly to make :redface:
xx

Youre absolutely right Jo... my business is also a sweet shop, the geneeral public do not have an idea how much stuff costs at wholesale, or as in the case with the sweet trees the time it takes to make them.... and people generally who want something for nothing think as a business you give your time FREE to make the item !! makes you laugh !!

 

[herewegoagain.]

And that is where you are losing out my friend. The cost to you would be 2p plus maybe 30 seconds of your time to get a pair of scissors and add a nice bit of ribbon.

B&M, Poundland, Tesco can't do that, and that's why people come to you.

Yes poor friend, poor customer, poor feedback for you. And all for the sake of 2p.

Come on David.... where can you buy at trade price a gift bag AND a ribbon for 2p? then there is the time fetching it, diesel, or p&p - customers have got to be prepared to pay for services.... after all the customer would have to pay for gift bag and ribbon - and a lot more than 30p in another shop and wrap it themselves...

I do offer free gift wrapping, but with my handmade items a £1 is added on to the cost of the item at the time of initially pricing up the item to cover it !! - it is a business - not freebie central !!

 

[herewegoagain.]

Whilst you may not care about a retailers/businesses overheads arcon, the overheads exist and have to be factored in, so you should care about the overheads as you are paying for them when you shop in any bricks and mortar store

I don't often have people make offers. On high value items I am often open to offers. However, consistent moaning about prices and getting things cheaper elsewhere can be really tiresome for independent retailers. Making money in retail can be really tough.

Well said !!

 

[herewegoagain.]

No the overheads isn't the customers concern. I bet when you see a product for £5 more than it is in say wilkos you don't buy it and think 'well fair enough they have a bigger store'.

And what the general public do not understand is that Wilko's etc... will buy by the container load, independents have to buy a case... and the B&M stores TELL their suppliers what they will pay....

This artificially lowers prices, to the point - certainly in my case - where stock is cheaper in the B&M stores than at the wholesalers !!

What the crappy cheap shops cant offer is personal service, gift wrapping, handmade bespoke items, the list goes on....

It is bloody hard out there being an independent retailer.... but I love it !

 

[warnie]

Well actually that is exactly what I do because I am an independent retailer so as far as possible I spend my hard earned money in other independent stores

That's my personal choice

I try as hard as possible not to go into wilkos or B&Ms or any other value store

I wish I could have these principles, unfortunately I'm a tight fisted git who will stock up no matter where I am if the price is right:redface:.

That's the thing though with being a shop keeper, you tend to have a rough idea of the wholesale cost of most things, so therefor know if your getting a good deal or not.

 

[warnie]

And that is where you are losing out my friend. The cost to you would be 2p plus maybe 30 seconds of your time to get a pair of scissors and add a nice bit of ribbon.

B&M, Poundland, Tesco can't do that, and that's why people come to you.

Yes poor friend, poor customer, poor feedback for you. And all for the sake of 2p.

The cost to us for a cellophane bag and bit of ribbon would be around 5p. So yes I sort of see your point.

We also charge 30p funnily enough, which still is something you can't get at Tesco and the like and 99% of our customers have no problem with it, and their normally pleased their sweets are getting gift wrapped for such a small amount.

However I would waive it instantly if I felt a customer did not want to pay it. As whoever is getting the gift is going to have our label splashed across it, and the last thing I want is an unhappy customers passing on a gift to another person moaning about us!. What I want is the customer handing it over saying how wonderful my shop is

But all said and done, when the majority ask for such and such sweets to be gift wrapped, I then ask them how much they would like to go to, and add the charge within the final price. The customer has no idea and is happy.

 

[SweetJo]

The cost to us for a cellophane bag and bit of ribbon would be around 5p. So yes I sort of see your point.

We also charge 30p funnily enough, which still is something you can't get at Tesco and the like and 99% of our customers have no problem with it, and their normally pleased their sweets are getting gift wrapped for such a small amount.

However I would waive it instantly if I felt a customer did not want to pay it. As whoever is getting the gift is going to have our label splashed across it, and the last thing I want is an unhappy customers passing on a gift to another person moaning about us!. What I want is the customer handing it over saying how wonderful my shop is

But all said and done, when the majority ask for such and such sweets to be gift wrapped, I then ask them how much they would like to go to, and add the charge within the final price. The customer has no idea and is happy.

The bag the customer wanted wasn't just one of our plain bags, it was a fancy ornate one. I do not charge for our plain gift bags. If she hadn't been rather rude from the start of the whole encounter I would have come to a compromise with her. Our customers are more than happy with our gift bags and gift wrapping service. As you say, you can't get it in other shops. She as the only one I can recall ever being unhappy.

 

[warnie]

The bag the customer wanted wasn't just one of our plain bags, it was a fancy ornate one. I do not charge for our plain gift bags. If she hadn't been rather rude from the start of the whole encounter I would have come to a compromise with her. Our customers are more than happy with our gift bags and gift wrapping service. As you say, you can't get it in other shops. She as the only one I can recall ever being unhappy.

So the free gift bag wasn't good enough so she wanted the ornate one for free?

Cheeky begger

 

[SweetJo]

So the free gift bag wasn't good enough so she wanted the ornate one for free?

Cheeky begger

Exactly. She didn't like those ones, they were too plain. Oh the joys of working in retail

 

[Bazza500]

Many years ago a customer came into my shop wanting an item. When I said it was £24.99 she informed me that the shop along the road was only £18.99. I told her to buy it there then but she said they didn't have any in stock. I then told her ours were only £12.99 when we didn't have any in stock.

She laughed and bought it.

 

[The Panda]

Every now and then, I will get a 'customer' into my shop who will seem to take delight in telling me that 'this product or that product' that I sell is 5p, 10p, 20p (small amounts) cheaper in this shop or that shop...

My normal response is 'we do have lots of special offers' (eg, but two get 50p off' etc...)

Today, this gentleman came in and said this product was 30p cheaper in a similar shop - wait for it.... 15 miles away...

I am normally quite patient, but today I said to him, 'well with such a brilliant deal, why don't you purchase it from there?... but see if it is still such a good deal once you have paid for your petrol or bus fare?'

Then you get the 'hagglers', now it is not like I sell white goods, or cars... the dearest thing in my shop is £16 !!
I must admit, if a customer is spending over say £20 - I will round it down to the last £1 - and tell them - normally they are quite happy with this... if they want more off (!) I tend to say that I cannot negotiate my rent or diesel - jokingly of course...

A lot of the time I want to say - 'I have a fitting room too - if you would like to try anything else on!'.

Slightly rude? possibly.... all said 'tongue in cheek' - but of course, shopkeepers are human too (?!) there are just times I really get sick of cheapskates, who really do want something for nothing....

Do these people not understand that we have rent, rates, electric, water, telephone, diesel, wages (yes... last on the list...) (I am sure we can all relate to that one!)

I am competitive on price - not the cheapest, not meant to be - but I always run promotions - to try and shift the stock in volume - and that the promotions have to be paid for somewhere!

Does anyone else get like this??

You mirror exactly what every single business person has to deal with. What gets me most is all these programmes on television of how to beat the business and get more and more off. As you said, we are just trying to make a living just like them. They should run a programme about how business people can get more out of customers. Same thing just the other way around. LOL

 

[The Panda]

Many years ago a customer came into my shop wanting an item. When I said it was £24.99 she informed me that the shop along the road was only £18.99. I told her to buy it there then but she said they didn't have any in stock. I then told her ours were only £12.99 when we didn't have any in stock.

She laughed and bought it.

I shall have to remember that one, very funny.

 

[Talay]

I do it the other way round. We like to buy local as much as possible, but don't like paying over the odds, so I find what I want online, then go to the local retailer and say 'match it or get close and you get the business'.

Win win - we get the goods locally at the right price with local backup if anything goes wrong, they get a sale.

Similar to me. I'll pay a bit over best price for something, even big ticket items, but if they have negotiated a crap wholesale price or want a huge margin simply because they feel they deserve it, then t'internet will get the sale; or John Lewis.

 

[beasty]

If it were me

I would have gift wrapping paper saying WRAPPED FOR FREE @ x store if the person did not want to pay

It would be no problem, let me get the other (crappy) paper out.. ahahah


I like to haggle, negotiate whatever you call it and consider that how much you paid and what your overheads are really are not my concern, my concern is that thing i want and how much I think i can knock you down. It is a harmless process and retailers without question do themselves more damage than good by being dicks with their replies (It is of course all in the delivery) i could not run a B and M shop as I would take too much pleasure in firing of lines at people.

It is cheaper down the road, sir petrol is 11p a litre in Egypt but you pay 1.40 in Tesco, please tell Tesco you can get fuel for 11p a litre at the other place

I would HATE to work in a shop, but christ if you do and you have chosen to do so what the hell did you expect?

 

[fairdealworld]

I don't give discounts ever and that's it. I don't mean we don't sometimes reduce stock or have a special offer for one reason or another but I always say no to customer requests for a discount just for them. My reasons are that we price our stock fairly in the first place (fair to us and fair to the customer) and, critically for me, I feel it is essential not to favour one customer over another. In my experience it is the better off customer of a certain type who is more likely to try for a discount while many of our best customers are those of more modest means but who value our products and our service and the atmosphere of our shop. I would never risk a situation where a 'good' customer who is regularly in the shop and pays the price on the product could over-hear a conversation in which another customer requests a discount on no particular grounds and I agreed to it. Also I feel it puts any staff in a very difficult position if they can't take it that the price on the item is the price. As it is I know that anyone I employ has heard me saying politely but firmly to customers who ask for a discount something along the lines of 'sorry but we charge the lowest price we can, the price is fixed and the same for all customers' and anyone employed by me knows they can do the same. Oddly most people who are refused a discount buy the item in any case, I suppose it depends a lot on how you say your refusal.

N.B. Re: John Lewis. My absolute favourite shop for anything I can't buy from my own shop or business neighbours. I was in the Oxford Street branch on Thursday, a big treat as no John Lewis in my own town and I can't often spare the time to travel to a branch. A medical appointment in London which was quickly over gave me the excuse to have a good nose around John Lewis. I actually spent rather a lot in their lighting department on something that I'd never seen in any other store, it was expensive but perfect for the use I wished to make of it and the service was impeccable. BUT John Lewis is by no means reliable re: price. The never knowingly undersold business is absolute tosh because many things in John Lewis are never sold elsewhere because manufacturers come up with a specific slight variation on the product just for John Lewis, so this specific item number sold in a huge variety of stores becomes that specific item in a 'b' or 'c' model which is only sold by John Lewis and on which there can therefor be no challenge on the price. The variation which makes it exclusive to John Lewis need not in any way be an improvement just a variation.

While deciding whether or not to make that rather expensive purchase from the lighting department I wandered round some adjacent departments and was amused to come across some items which are featured in my shop - at half the John Lewis price. I could never challenge them on the price, as actually their versions were subtly different, but all you need is the slightest difference in height or width (plus or minus) or a little door in the side of the item which opens in the opposite way to the ones in my shop and you can't challenge the price because it is a different item - see?

I remain a John Lewis fan for a variety of reasons but consumers need to have their eyes wide open (few do of course). So many people pay £1 for stuff in pound shops when it is actually generally on sale for 75p elsewhere.

 

[Doodle-Noodle]

Enjoyed reading this thread!!!! We're quite lucky in that on the gift side of things, the majority of our stock is handmade by artists/crafters who set their own priced so we can simply say sorry, but we can't negotiate on price - customers always accept that and usually buy anyway.

On the art supplies side, we rarely get asked for discounts unless someone is buying on behalf of a group (art club, brownies etc) - if they want a reasonable quantity of something we will give 10% off full RRP which seems to keep them happy!