I often wonder if the postage rate hikes are a national secret? Today, the postal rate increased one cent, and while that’s not a lot of money, it’s a lot of hassle. I went on Google News and it’s not even a top story of the day, even though it will impact a lot of people. I was in the post office a couple days ago to drop some  special mail and decided to also purchase a book of stamps and asked to see the selection – it was only then that I knew the rates were going up on the 12th of May (that makes perfect sense, right?!) If I’d have not asked to purchase stamps, it was pretty likely I wouldn’t have been told about the hike and get this, the only notice in the place was on window you would see when leaving! Couldn’t they have let people know in a bigger way? Consider this poster who just today wrote, ” Friday I purchased three rolls of 41 cent stamps (thats 100 stamps each). We are a not-for-profit organization and send out newsletters each month. Sure would have been nice for the post office to advise me of the increase!!! Now I have to go buy 300 1 cent stamps.. Thanks alot!!” How pathetic.

Do yourself a favor, if you’re moving your prices up on something your customer uses all the time, do them the courtesy of letting them know so they’re prepared. Also, if you’re in a business that is being used less and less, make sure your rate hike makes sense in every way. I think it’s consumers that are becoming disgruntled at this point. Oh and note my carrier: would you please stop giving me mail from people that 2 blocks away that have the same house number, but live on a different-named street. I’m sure your sorting work is really tough, but after 4 years, one would think you’d catch on. Thanks….

One of the worst pharmacy experiences of my life happened just this week. My daughter is an avid and active hockey player, so it really came as a surprise when this week the doctor said she had pneumonia. I’m guessing all the playing, getting heated up, then chilled, over and over got to her lungs. Any way, off to the pharmacy we go. Before I left the doctor’s office, I asked them to phone in the prescriptions, as this pharmacy is notoriously slow. We arrived to pick these things up about 20 minutes later, to which the very misguided tech behind the counter replies, “These will be ready later this evening, can you come back?” What? I looked at him squarely in the eye and said, “She has PNEUMONIA.” He knew right away I was not leaving. He assured me they’d be ready in 15 minutes. There was no one even here, why should this take another 15 minutes, when 20 had already passed when the doctor’s office called them in?

Having been a pharmacy tech during college, I know the meds routine- verify if insurance covers and at what level, pull, check, label, dispense. Most of this is even computerized now, so the actual pulling of the meds off the shelf is the hardest part. None of her prescriptions required any counting of pills or mixing (all scripts here were blister packages and an inhaler, plus a bottle of syrup that you pour into a bottle that is clearly marked!) I would love to say it’s rocket science, but it’s not, but these folks surely want to make it seem so. Things must be watched carefully to be sure, but if you have a competent pharmacist overseeing everything, this process can be quick and accurate. Not so with this place.

One gripe I have that seems to repeat itself nearly every time I go grocery shopping; at checkout the clerk will often ask, “Did you find everything you needed?”, to which I usually reply “Almost everything.” I do this on purpose and only once has someone stopped and said “Oh, what didn’t you find?” On this particular day, I scoured the store for an item I know the competitor store carries, but they’re a couple miles further drive. My fault. Any way, I mentioned at the checkout that this item was nowhere to be found, yet “So and so carries it, why don’t you?” “I dunno.” Great, what an utterly unhelpful exchange. Right here, I have given this business an opportunity to earn me as a repeat, loyal customer, but they’re too lazy or disinterested to care. Don’t they have a mechanism in place to see if they can get what I want? The item is no big deal for them, they carry the brand, but just not this particular product.

Lesson: if the customer says what they want and you have the ability to give it to them, why don’t you just do it? Why risk losing your customer for no reason at all?