The infamous "in the back"

[Giggle Goose]

Because it's been a while since I've worked in customer service, I haven't had too many stories to share. Rest assured, though, i still do my best to keep my friends and family educated on the ways of NOT being an SC. However it's still been hard to explain to my in-laws. A recent event got me thinking of something that's long been groaned about here:

My boyfriend, his mother, and I went to Lowe's a few days before Christmas to pick up some odds and ends. BF was looking for some work gloves. Being a larger guy, the biggest size they had was a bit snug and they seemed to be out of XL. I couldn't help but grin to myself when his mom said:

"Why don't you ask somebody for your size? They might have them IN THE BACK somewhere" (caps for emphasis). I had a hard time not grinning even harder when it turned out that they DIDN'T have anything "in the back."

Just a quickie that got me thinking about the mysterious "back" that the majority of SCs believe exists and holds the inventory of their dreams

[emax4]

The first thought that comes to my mind is "I can see this being possible ONLY IF they've been slammed nonstop and the people on the floor are the same people that stock the shelves when the store is closed. What are the odds though? And for Lowe's?" I hardly doubt it.

[notlovinit]

Can I fully admit that in my teenage years I believed this back room existed for all stores? I had heard of it's existence so often I believed it to be true. I didn't get sucky when I was told they didn't have anything in the back and I certainly never forced anyone to go check, but I did ask a lot.
I do remember getting disappointed and thinking the store clerks were lying to me though. I have since reformed my ways.

[Hyndis]

Oddly enough I had a case where the employee was the one who insisted on checking in "the back" rather than the customer (me).

Just today I went to the store to pick up some delicious, bake at home french bread. Its the partially baked stuff that you need to pop in the oven for 10 minutes. So tasty.

They were out, but there was a guy with a huge cart of boxes restocking that very area, so I asked him.

He said he's check and he instantly ran off, looking in "the back."

He did this so quickly I couldn't even point out to him that he could check the inventory using his scanner on the inventory tag on the empty shelf. I know this because I used to work there.

[mharbourgirl]

The ONLY place I've ever asked if they have it 'in the back' is the grocery store, because quite often they do. Then again, I know the days my local gets deliveries and if there's a gap on the shelf chances are very good my cheese whiz/peanut butter/etc. is still waiting to be put out.

Most stores, though? They stuff as much on the shelves as possible because they want to sell stuff and make monies. They don't keep stuff out back because they're lazy or trying to deprive customers of their precious stock.

What's with that, anyway? Why would anyone think that a store would keep stuff from customers? It's a STORE. They SELL stuff. As much stuff as possible, because that's the point. What's in it for a store to hide all their 'good' stock out back and not sell it?

[tofu]

to be honest i've never really understood the in the back thing ^.^;; we put as much stuff on our shelves and racks as possible, but we often can't fit out everything and so it goes into the stockroom. especially if it's a major popular item like the childrens all in one sleep suits we got in (bunnies and sheep! so cozy), my manager had ordered three boxes of each style and only one box fits out at a time: so i'd often have parents trundling up asking if i had the bunny in the age 13 size as the ones on the floor had already sold due to its popularity. of course, our store rotates the staff - we'd be spending the first two hours working delivery, then the next hour on the tills, fourth hour manning the fitting rooms etc, so we generally don't have time to constantly prowl the floor making sure all gaps are filled. only exception is the service desk which is manned by the same service trained staff member the entire day - cept for lunch breaks anyway ^.^

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

What's in it for a store to hide all their 'good' stock out back and not sell it?

The shelves look neater, customers somehow lose all control and buy more of it, and it increases safety.

At least this is what my company thinks. We have a laundry list of merchandise presentation rules we have to remember when stocking, and they generally amount to having to send more stock to the backroom that we ever used to.

Problem is, we have a pull system that believes in sending as much out to the floor as possible, even when it doesn't fit, so the shelves are still generally packed full until such time as somebody pulls all the overstock off the floor, sends it to the backroom for backstocking, and blames us truck people for the overstock because we work with the stuff most often.

[Slayer]

Lol, I love the expectations of the backstore.

However, I've been in retail for over 8 years and I still ask if they have more or if it's in another part of the store (sale items here are often in multiple places in grocery stores, for example). When it's a large department store, I usually just go back the next day. When it's a small store, I tend to always ask (it's small and sometimes are connected to other stores).

[PepperElf]

this is one thing i like about the company i work for.

it doesn't matter if it's "in the back" or on the floor. if it's in the store *period* it will show up on the computer. If I don't see it as 'available' it ain't here.

[Hyndis]

this is one thing i like about the company i work for.

it doesn't matter if it's "in the back" or on the floor. if it's in the store *period* it will show up on the computer. If I don't see it as 'available' it ain't here.

Yup, these days most stores have computer based inventory systems, and its common for employees to have handheld devices.

Log in with your employee number as usual, go to inventory viewing mode, and scan the barcode. It'll tell you how many are in stock, and if they are in stock where they are. Doing this gets you an absolute answer within about 5 seconds of being asked.

I was damn fast with my scanning gun/PDA back in the day. No need to visit the back unless the computer said it was in stock and had a location for it. If it wasn't in stock? I'd just show the customer the screen where it said none in stock.

If it was in stock then I'd be happy to get it for them, because that screen would point out exactly where the item was located, so finding it was trivial.

[Catwoman2965]

I do know in my store, we change our floorsets at the whim of corporate aka very frequently, so we DO have stuff in the back. While I don't mind looking for a customer, and will tell them if you don't see your size or color, let me know and I can check either another store or "in the back", some things I KNOW we have all we have out on the floor, and some I KNOW are catalog only, therefore we don't have ANY in the store.

What I hate is when I politely tell them that, and they then proceed to ask me multiple times if we have any in the back or somewhere else in the store!

[Flying Grype]

The only thing I ask for in the back is shoes. Mall shoe stores tend to have one pair or one shoe out on display and you have to ask for your size.

In the toy store this fall I was pleased to see that people believed me when I checked the computer and found that there were no items in the back. On a Tuesday when all the new stock is still in boxes in the basement, there's a possibility that something could be down there while there are none of it on the shelf. But the computer never (okay, rarely) lies. If it says 0 there are 0 in the store.

[Miss Fatale]

The mister and I were shopping on Saturday. The clerk saw us looking at the pants display, and asked if we needed help. I said, "We're looking for Size X, but don't see if here -- can you spot it?"

The clerk took a quick look, didn't see it, then said, "Let me see if it's in the back." And indeed, she returned with a pair of pants in the size we'd been looking for.

Other than shoes, that's the only time someone has brought me something "from the back."

[BeenThereDoneThat]

It's rare, but if I go into a store hoping to buy a certain item and I don't see it on the shelf, I might politely ask an associate if the empty shelf space means they are completely out. If they say yes, I leave it at that and sadly walk away...lol.

[Moosenogger]

In all fairness, some stores (like mine) go through several stockers in a day. Some of them are good, and others are outright horrible. So, on a day we get inventory, the stocker may not check shirt sizes, toys, or anything else in the shipment to see if they need to be placed on the floor. So when a customer asks me to check in the back, I am happy to do so. More often than not, I find exactly what they want.

(Seriously, I took it upon myself to hang a huge shipment of shirts in the backroom because they'd been sitting back there all day. I found that pretty much every shirt I pulled out of that shipment was needed on the floor. Talk about a stocker not doing their job...)