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Wilko about to collapse

Sean Regan said:
I won't be at surprised, for a long time now the product availability has been poor for a few years. A couple of years ago I e-mailed a polite complaint, didn't get the courtesy of a reply.

As a retired superstore manager I was always concerned about the availability of products. My attitude was that if a customer couldn't find one product that should be available but wasn't, they might in the future do their shopping elsewhere. This could be a loss of several thousand pounds a year to the store.
These days in the major multiples, the store's computer mostly does the daily ordering, based on sales. "In my day," I let the shelf fillers do the daily ordering, after all they knew what sold.
If I ever did a late night, (this was rare, it was the food manager's job), when the night fill was nearly completed, I'd pick a couple of aisles and do a "gap analysis." As the shelf fillers were usually collage kids earning a bit of pocket money, it was like a bit of a game. They liked to be proved blameless.
If there was a gap, I could check the delivery note to see if the product had been ordered. Mostly the "gap" was because the product had been ordered but wasn't available from the distribution centre, so no blame could be levelled at that particular shelf filler.
One up to them!

If the unavailability across the store reached 3%, I'd play merry hell with the distribution centre manager.
These days, lots of things affect the availability of products, but the local major multiples are doing a far better job than Wilko. It's as if they don't care. Very few staff around. But it'll be a shame if the local one goes. But there's always eBay, I'm using it more and more. Same product, same price but free postage. Who wouldn't?

If Wilko go, I'll miss their "pick n' mix screw selection," fill a big back of assorted screws for £2.99 or whatever, cheapest way to buy them. But they haven't had any for months.
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That’s the trouble with collage kids.
They never stick at anything.
 
Bob McC said:
That’s the trouble with collage kids.
They never stick at anything.
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No they don't do they? Here today and gone tomorrow.


I think they are much maligned sometimes. I employed quite a few college kids over the years, either as shelf fillers, assistants on "serve over" counters, or as check-out operators. Usually on evening shifts and cover for staff on holiday.
There wasn't that much of turnover, nor in adult check-out operators. I trained up my check-out and department supervisors (few of those these days) to interview their own staff. I thought it important that they had people with whom they would get on rather than feel an employee had been "forced on them".
For many of these kids it was their first experience of any job and of the opportunity to relate to people other than their friends, parents, relatives and school teachers. Even in my time, there were plenty of college kids seeking part-time employment, they knew they could be easily replaced, so they were always conscious of this, (I'm reminded of a conversation I overheard between one kid who'd been with us for a couple of years and a "newbie." "Look.. If the boss says "when you get a minute," he actually means, go and do it now")/
Over the years, several times parents have told me how having a job had made their child surprisingly more mature after working for a few months.
Of course, they only stayed a few years and eventually left for "a proper job."

On giving in their notice, I'd call them up to my office, thank them for their service and show an interest in their chosen career path. I'd suggest to them that on any application form they were required to complete for a prospective employer, to mention their part-time job and to be sure to include the words, "I was responsible for...(whatever). Employers are looking for new employees to take responsibility, it might make the difference between them and someone else, with no previous work experience.
 
Sean Regan said:
No they don't do they? Here today and gone tomorrow.


I think they are much maligned sometimes. I employed quite a few college kids over the years, either as shelf fillers, assistants on "serve over" counters, or as check-out operators. Usually on evening shifts and cover for staff on holiday.
There wasn't that much of turnover, nor in adult check-out operators. I trained up my check-out and department supervisors (few of those these days) to interview their own staff. I thought it important that they had people with whom they would get on rather than feel an employee had been "forced on them".
For many of these kids it was their first experience of any job and of the opportunity to relate to people other than their friends, parents, relatives and school teachers. Even in my time, there were plenty of college kids seeking part-time employment, they knew they could be easily replaced, so they were always conscious of this, (I'm reminded of a conversation I overheard between one kid who'd been with us for a couple of years and a "newbie." "Look.. If the boss says "when you get a minute," he actually means, go and do it now")/
Over the years, several times parents have told me how having a job had made their child surprisingly more mature after working for a few months.
Of course, they only stayed a few years and eventually left for "a proper job."

On giving in their notice, I'd call them up to my office, thank them for their service and show an interest in their chosen career path. I'd suggest to them that on any application form they were required to complete for a prospective employer, to mention their part-time job and to be sure to include the words, "I was responsible for...(whatever). Employers are looking for new employees to take responsibility, it might make the difference between them and someone else, with no previous work experience.
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Sean, Bob said "collage". Deliberately. :)
 
stevec67 said:
Sean, Bob said "collage". Deliberately. :)
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I wasn't going assume he couldn't spell and mention it.

It's a bit like the local bus service, a while back, where some can be used for specialised journeys.
The driver can programme the LED information board above the windscreen.
For a few weeks in the mornings when I passed one going in the opposite direction on my way to play golf, the board would say, "GRAMMER SCHOOL." I guessed that was deliberate.
 
Sean Regan said:
I wasn't going assume he couldn't spell and mention it.

It's a bit like the local bus service, a while back, where some can be used for specialised journeys.
The driver can programme the LED information board above the windscreen.
For a few weeks in the mornings when I passed one going in the opposite direction on my way to play golf, the board would say, "GRAMMER SCHOOL." I guessed that was deliberate.
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Read your original post.
It’s you who cannot spell.
I merely played on your use of the word collage.
 
miktec said:
Found our local B&M disappointing ... particularly in comparison to Home Bargains which actually does have a very wide range of home goods.
Neither great on DIY or hobby crafts, for those it's definitely Boyes, The Range or your actual Hobby Craft in our neck of the woods.

Plenty of consumer choice for sure - even leaving out TK M, Home Sense and Dunelm for affordable homeware (where we went for lunch yesterday ;) )

No wonder Wilko couldn't compete ....
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Eeh, Boyes. The Harrods of the North. They nearly folded around Covid but survived. I'm brassed off about Wilkos, I've been going there for years. But these days B&M, Range and of course the net have killed it. Shame.
 
Bob McC said:
Read your original post.
It’s you who cannot spell.
I merely played on your use of the word collage.
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I love a "merely" and a bit of pedantry, it adds so much to a thread.

Actually, I went back and corrected it and a couple of other typos, as I have with a few other posts, as I'm usually multi-taskin' watching sport on TV over my laptop, before I read further contributions including unnecessary ones.
 
Bob McC said:
Proper beer?
Surely not that piss Londoner’s call beer that is so flat it is sold in glasses with no room for a head?
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In the good old days, before Guinness won their case against Trading Standards (or was it Weights and Measures?), all pint glasses were oversized to accommodate a pint of fluid and the head. Following Guinness, almost overnight, oversize pint glasses disappeared, sparklers were screwed down tight and a pint was (and is, if you let it) 15 fluid ounces of beer and a huge head.

I always have such a "pint" topped up until I am satisfied with the beer/head ratio.
 
Richard Lines said:
I thought we were having a serious conversation about beer up North and then you go and mention Sam Smiths.........:( - possibly the worst beer to come out of Yorkshire. YMMV

Regards

Richard
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Yes it's not the best. It's still ambrosia compared to the second hand crap that passes for ale down there.
 
Sean Regan said:
I love a "merely" and a bit of pedantry, it adds so much to a thread.

Actually, I went back and corrected it and a couple of other typos, as I have with a few other posts, as I'm usually multi-taskin' watching sport on TV over my laptop, before I read further contributions including unnecessary ones.
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Don't be a tw*t, he's pulling your leg. I laughed at it. If you can't, your loss.
 
Cav said:
In the good old days, before Guinness won their case against Trading Standards (or was it Weights and Measures?), all pint glasses were oversized to accommodate a pint of fluid and the head. Following Guinness, almost overnight, oversize pint glasses disappeared, sparklers were screwed down tight and a pint was (and is, if you let it) 15 fluid ounces of beer and a huge head.

I always have such a "pint" topped up until I am satisfied with the beer/head ratio.
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It was Trading standards enforcing the W&M Act. They are the statutory body that polices those laws.
 
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