BURNEY MERCHANTS LOSING THEIR SANITY

SPECIAL POST

Here we go, right after the holiday and I have to write a disagreeable post.  Usually, I let things like this go by, but these two stories are so blatantly dumb from a business standpoint that I find it incumbent upon me to mouth off.  I'll be back to my regular format tomorrow. 

Around a month ago, American Legion Post 441 held its annual awards and installation meeting.  As usual, we ordered some finger food from Safeway and I stopped by to pick it up as well as some soft drinks just before  the meeting.  At the register, I paid for the purchase with a partially used Safeway gift card and wrote out a check for the difference drawn on the American Legion account.  The check was for $80.66. 

The cashier was most concerned and polite, but she was under instructions that they could not take a check for over $75.00.  The difference, of course, was a paltry $5.66.  Now, the American Legion wrote a check for the whole thing last year, well over $200 and no problem; the check didn't bounce.  In fact, since the Post got its charter in August of 1959, it has never bounced a check to anyone.  The night manager on duty refused to budge an inch.  I asked him what would happen if I just walked out and left the custom-ordered merchandise there, and his answer was, "I don't care."  

Well, I paid for it with my own credit card and I wrote a letter to their Phoenix office and the manager at the local store and never heard a word back... no apology, no explanation.  Obviously, the guy was correct: "They don't care."  

In the second event, I went to purchase some beer at Rite Aid.  They asked for my I.D.  I'm over 70 years old.  They could not sell me the beer without seeing my I.D.  It's a new rule; they don;t care how old you are or look, if you're going to purchase alcohol or tobacco products, you have to show I.D. or you can't buy.  No ifs, no buts... that's the rule, take it or leave it.  If you're too old to drive and have no I.D., I guess you're going to drink water. 

Both of these stories are about the dumbest thing I have heard of in years.  It's no wonder more and more people are willing to drive 55 miles down the road to shop.  When a business decides that customers will have to comply with their rules or no business will be transacted and when the rules are ill-founded and stupid,  they may as well start filling out bankruptcy papers, because all of their business is going to go where it is well-respected, well-received and well-treated.  

I'll be back to my normal format tomorrow, still shaking my head.