March 11, 2017
Thoughtlessness and the cost of overshoes
Moving house (and all that goes with it) is proving to be a great way to plug back in to the market behaviours of a whole range of brands and suppliers. Recently, we bought a (decidedly heavy) sideboard-cum-stationery-cupboard for our first floor office. We bought online. And we liked the copy that promised a “two man delivery team, who will deliver your item to a room of your choice”. Great. Click. Done.
The actual delivery experience was very different. Fast forward to two grumpy guys in muddy boots and trainers, refusing to take their shoes off to take the item up our (cream-carpeted) stairs. Elf and Safety apparently. Overshoes anyone? Nope. To cut a long story short, two hours later, we arrived in a surreal call centre where we were told that “overshoes are part of our platinum service and your retailer did not pay for that.”
As we struggled up the stairs, with a ten-ton sideboard, I found myself reflecting on the cost of overshoes. They cost 3p a pair. See this link. Yes: that’s right – you can buy 100 pairs for £3.00. See below:
This means that the Platinum Service that we didn’t get required an additional investment of six pence to deliver. Or, more to the point, the logistics company’s thoughtlessness has cost the retailer a relationship, their reputation and all the repeat purchases that we won’t now make. Thoughtlessness is an expensive thing. It costs a great deal more than 6 pence.