Observer
Posted: Mon 1 May, 2006 Filed under: Customer Services, Weirdness 2 Comments »I don’t know what it is about this town, but sometimes finding a Saturday Guardian, or an Observer on Sunday is a total nightmare.
Yesterday was a case in point – OK, we didn’t go out ’til about 1, so that was part of the issue, but when I looked for a paper, I couldn’t find one at all.
The Esso garage was sold out, the BP garage only had ones with no supplements. It’s no wonder those hadn’t sold. Tescos had sold out – but only of Observers – in both the shop and the seperate garage section. They always sell out early, but never order more for next week. No idea why.
The other Esso and BP garages had sold out too. In the end, I picked up the last copy in – wait for it – Marks and Spencers. Because, like, that’s where everyone looks for a paper. *sigh*
I just don’t understand why, if the Observer is such a popular paper (and it’s worth pointing out that most places still had plenty of all the other papers, it’s just that I like the Observer) then why don’t all the shops order more of the sodding things?
Oh, and before anyone asks, we don’t get it delivered because a) the local newsagents has closed, with no sign of anything replacing it, and b) because even when it was open he wouldn’t do a delivery for just one day a week. Which probably goes some way to explaining why it’s now closed…
That used to annoy me when I was a teenager in Dullsville and both the newsagents in walking distance would sell out of Grauniads before ten o’clock. One would offer a Telegraph instead…as if…and at least the other would phone their other branch down the road, but it was always the Gruanies that went first.
I remember working at W.H Smith and attempting to order more papers (I said about 5 we were a small branch) and they said not a problem, so they upped my Sunday Telegraph delivery from 1 to 25. (The supplements do not come prepacked so I was not amused) So, what happens we sell 10 and had to send 15 back, not so bad I thought. Next week they sent 1 again, so I phoned up and asked what the story was… apparently we didn’t sell our quota so they reduced it to the original delivery. I said yeah but we sold 10, so why was only 1 sent? She said we didn’t need that many, so after going round in circles (she used a recycling argument as well, by that time I could have rung her) she said if we can’t sell the issues we will only get a basic delivery. So it’s not always the retailers fault, and before anyone says change suppliers, in Scotland there is only one major supplier Menzies Distribution.