Last century there was a thing called a catalog store. You went there to look at a catalog of things you were interested in, found one you liked and then ordered it. The object would arrive a few days or weeks later.

This week I discovered that the catalog store is alive and well in the office supply business. My office was a mess so I decided to get a new file cabinet so I could hide the mess. I went to three national chain office supply stores (you know who they are) to buy a standard two-drawer cabinet. NONE of the stores had it in stock. They would be happy to order it for me and have it delivered. NEWSFLASH – I can do that myself on the internet. OK, how about that shelf over there. NOPE, don’t have it. OK, how about that data transfer cable. NOPE.

Why bother having a store if you are not going to stock anything that people want? I know about stocking levels and sales volumes but this was three standard things I wanted that they didn’t have. While I am sure they view this as an efficient way to do business (don’t we always have the answers when we view things from only our perspective?) it wasn’t helping me.

So, I went home and ordered online. I get free shipping, they pay for it. I pay the same price I would pay at the store. Doesn’t seem smart to me. But even worse, I am disgusted with one of these retailers who I use on a very regular basis. They are regularly out of stock of things I need. I know I can go online and I guess I will but that really isn’t my preferred way of hitting the easy button.

How customer friendly are you? How do you know? I know this retailer thinks they are doing the right thing and you may too. Just double check that you aren’t making the easy button the impossible button.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 27th, 2008 at 12:42 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.