Figure it out

I wrote a while back about a pet-peeve of mine when I grocery shop:? Not enough small carts.

Now, that’s clearly a small thing (literally!) to get too overworked about.? First World Problems, and all that.? At the risk of delving further into Angry-Old-Man-Shaking-His-Fist-At-The-Clouds territory, let me gripe again about shopping carts.

As I’d mentioned, ours is a somewhat urban neighborhood.? Now, we’re not “downtown” or in any sort of high-rise area...It’s one of those in-between sort of place where there are a mix of houses and businesses; sidewalks and alleys.? But it’s definitely in the city, and naturally we have our share of vagrancy issues.

So, our local grocers have cart issues of their own:? Homeless folks will often wander off with them.? Now, there’s a mechanism they’ve installed that locks a wheel if the cart is taken beyond the parking lot.? It’s a somewhat expensive solution the problem, and seemingly not totally effective, given the number of carts one can see abandoned within a few blocks of the store when the absconder finally gets frustrated with the impediment.

But not only is it not all that effective (although I’m sure there’s a study on it...perhaps it’s effective enough to justify its cost), it’s also a frustration for their Customers.? I can’t tell you how often I get one of these carts with that one wheel locked inside the store because that mechanism is malfunctioning.? Sometimes it’s clear right away and you can abandon it right there at the front of the store.? In fact, usually if there’s a cart or two not stacked in with the rest of them, but rather just out in the middle of that space, often that’s why:? Someone else abandoned it right away.? But sometimes it doesn’t go haywire until you’re already on your way and you either have to get another cart from the front of the store and swap all your so-far picked items into the new one, or somehow try to drag ? of the cart the rest of the way through your visit.

My previous article, linked above, simply asks why certain brands haven’t figured out some of the inconveniences their Customers have.? Now, here’s an admonition:? They should figure it out.

If you complain about this to them, they’ll explain why they have to resort to the thing that’s inconveniencing you.? It may be logical; it may be heavy-handed or over-the-top.? Whatever, it’s still not a rationale for inconveniencing you as the Customer.? What they’ll tell you about the carts is that stolen or lost carts cost the grocery store money.? That cost is an overhead one that translates into higher costs for their produce and goods.? They really have no choice, you see?? What the brand should do is figure it out in a way that doesn’t have to inconvenience you.

Perhaps you’ve even seen the signs (maybe at the grocer in a situation like this, maybe somewhere else for a different inconvenience) that say something like:? “To save you money, we’ve implemented this policy...”? That implemented policy, almost without exception, is going to be something that inconveniences you.? To save labor costs (and yes, this is a preposterous example, but stick with me), your grocery store could limit its hours to just noon till 4pm every day.? In fact, if it did this, it’d cut down on not just salaries of those there to help you, but also overhead costs and even heat and lighting (not to mention, think of all the good it’d do For The Planet!).? Forget that that would make every visit a madhouse of people trying to get in and out while they had time; if they could even make it between those hours.? But boy, they’d be able to slash those prices!

It’s similar with two-factor authentication, if you think about it:? Security online is a huge thing.? Yes, we’re all worried about it and we all face risks if we’re not taken care of when we go online to log into our accounts.? And let’s be honest; we’re not all very diligent in taking such things seriously ourselves, so brands that care about our online safety are doing us a favor to require 2FA.

But you know what I can’t stand?? (Get ready...I’m putting on my sandals over my socks and donning my bathrobe to go out and yell at those clouds...)? Having to have my phone with me every time I log into anything.? Again, it’s not the end of the world.? But if you leave your phone in the other room or downstairs on the counter or wherever else, you’ve got to trudge to wherever it is to receive that text (fees may apply!) every time you want to log in to check your electric bill or mortgage balance.

Am I grateful for the security?? Yes.

Can I wait till some bank or some service provider somewhere out there figures out a way to authenticate me without my having to have two devices with me every time I want to log in?? Nope.

In fact, my prediction is that those brands that do figure it out will win the day.

Other examples are myriad.? And, unfortunately, so are brands who shrug their corporate shoulders and insist, "This is the best we've come up with."

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