An open letter to BJ's

 

To whom it may concern at BJ's... if anyone is concerned about the customers, that is.

This image is my what I had in front of me as I tried to leave the store with my purchases today.  The line to leave the store took longer than filling my cart, waiting for checkout, having my purchases scanned, and dealing with paying.... all added together.

The long line of people trying to leave resulted from the staff person chosen to 'check' carts and receipts at the door.

When I got my turn dealing with this person, she required me to count my lunch meat packages before she would make her little checkmark on my receipt and allow me to leave the store.  I'm not kidding here.

Okay BJ's, let's talk.

I will not ask you why that situation must be dealt with every time I shop at BJ's.  I won't ask because the answer is meaningless to me.  Whatever it is, it's not for my benefit as a customer.

I have two points to make.  First, every second I spend dealing with having my purchases checked as I exit the store is time stolen from my life.  I'll never get those minutes returned to me in any form.  Once spent, they are gone forever.   That's why I won't ask for anything here, since nothing BJ's could offer will compensate for charging me the most precious commodity any human being has....our time.    When I shop at BJ's, I know going in that part of my expenditure will be having minutes of my life wasted without anything offered in return.  Yes, that does effect my decision when I consider shopping for the family.  A store that goes out of the way to make my experience negative should expect to reap the rewards of that.

This leads in to my second point.  Do you see that line?  All those people being forced to wait... just to be able to leave the store with their purchases.  Do you realize that is the last opportunity BJ's has to make an impression on every one of those people?  It's an impression that BJ's is forcing on every customer by having staff stationed to stop buyers from leaving the store till their receipts and purchases are needlessly handled one last time.

Those people waiting in line just to get out.... what impression is BJ's making on them?  Do you think those folks are happy to be waiting?  

Lets face it. The very best BJ's can hope for is indifference in their customers here, and the most likely impact this procedure has is negative. It certainly is on me.

Is this really the best you can do, BJ's?