There are also long Jewish holidays that last more than a day they also shutdown for. Most of them I have not heard of.
I don’t necessarily disagree; I was just explaining the rules lawyering, not commenting on them.
This could be problematic, both from a PCI standpoint in that they’re holding info for some period of time that they really shouldn’t be (CVV code comes to mind). Also there’s the issue if you put something in your cart on Fri evening & then go out for a night on the town &/or shopping on Sat, you may not have enough funds available on that card/account to checkout even though you might have 24 hrs earlier. They’d need to send you an email & keep your cart open even longer. What if it’s a product that’s running low on stock? Should I be able to come in now (Monday afternoon) & get the very last one because you haven’t come back in two days?
Doubtless some or all of the High Holy Days. My preferred frame shop shuts for all of them as well. Not really a bother to me - it’s not like I ever need to get stuff framed right now.
My father is an acquaintance of the guy who owns B&H, and he once asked him about it. The guy said he doesn’t know if it’s religiously permitted, but he personally isn’t comfortable doing business on Saturday in any form.
It’s not just legal costs. There is also the risk of losing.
There’s a general tendency of juries to sympathize with the “little guy” over the “big company”. And in particular, there’s also a perception that given the ethnic makeup of NYC juries, that a bunch of Hasidic Jews up against minority workers would have the deck stacked against them.
this reminds me that some Mormons don’t drink caffeine because there is a rule against hot drinks so they assume it really means don’t drink caffeine. Others say that it does really mean coffee, tea, etc and not the caffeine so they are OK with coke, pepsi, iced tea, etc.
We appreciate this brief interruption is an inconvenience for a few customers. We regret that i is, but it is unavoidable. Strict Sabbath observance includes a rule prohibiting commerce. This prohibition is company-wide, includes all our employees, and does not make exceptions for automated or computer systems. Our site is 24/7/365 except that during Sabbath and other days with Sabbath-like rules of observance, order submission is disabled.
Most of the negative comments you’ve read about treatment of our workers are either misrepresentations of the facts or outright untruths. We have been in business since 1973. A large portion of our growth and success is rooted in our understanding that the company-customer and company-employee relationships are the crux of that success. We would no more damage one than the other. We value and respect and cherish our employees.
Ironically, these were released relatively recently:
http://bit.ly/2jIf31M
and
http://bit.ly/2PMMzWT
I’ve learned more about Jewish holidays working here tan I did in years of Hebrew school. FWIW, our schedule
There’s a Chick-Fil-A in the Annapolis Mall food court that is closed on Sundays. I cannot imagine how much money they are losing by paying mall rent but being closed 4 or 5 days a month. On Sundays, so many people go to that food court before they go to the multiplex theatre upstairs. All the other food vendors make out like bandits.
Well there you go- from the director of corporate communications himself! Thanks for the answer Henry!
I disagree on two counts. First, especially when dealing with the government whose resources are unending, settling is often the most prudent course. It saves substantial legal expenses and allowed us to put the matter behind us and resume our primary purpose – serving our customers. Second, IMO the “where there’s smoke there’s fire” argument throws who whole jury system into the gutter. If I was a defense attorney (and I am not) and a potential juror expressed this sentiment I would challenge that juror immediately. The entire Americal legal system is built on the idea that there is often, legally, smoke but no fire. YMMV
I know the New Jersey laws. The store I work at closes two hours before sundown on Friday afternoon and reopens two hours after sundown on Saturday during the winter. The store’s owners are very strict on the subject, and it has lead to some trouble for people with “7-eleven mentality.” (Every store has to be open 2/7).
We are also closed for the first two days and last two days of Pesach (Passover) and on Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah. Again, started two hours before sundown the day before.
I appreciate the stout defense of your company henryp and like I implied I’ve been a customer for quite a few years. Indeed as I type this I am doing so on a monitor I purchased from B&H some years back( got quite a good, better-than-Amazon-price on it too ). So I’m not exactly on some holyier-than-thou crusade.
You’re also quite right “where there’s smoke there’s fire” isn’t exactly a sound legal standard. I once served ~two months on a federal trial involving two felony charges of white collar crime leveled against the former CEO of a company. The initial vote in jury deliberations was overwhelmingly to convict on both charges( 10-2 and 9-3, I believe ). I was firmly in the majority on the one and in the minority on the other. Why? Because despite thinking that the accused was very likely guilty of both charges, one of them rested on hearsay evidence from a single somewhat compromised source. That was enough to instill reasonable doubt in me and I and the others in tune with my line of reasoning ultimately prevailed. We convicted on one, acquitted on the other. I still think that person was guilty of both crimes( and the conviction on that one charge held up through numerous challenges). But believing that was so was not the same as proving it.
But that’s a legal standard. I’m a lot looser when it comes to personal standards and just for myself I am fine with a cautious “better safe than sorry” approach. B&H has a big fat reputational black eye after these past few years - that is the genuine price you pay for settling instead of fighting and prevailing in court, proper tactic or not. And I’m going to keep a careful distance in terms of my own purchases for the time being. That’s not to say I’ll maintain that policy forever. I appreciate the recent awards you’ve won and maybe I’ll feel more comfortable again with your company with the passage of time.
But for now I do somewhat enjoy giving my business to a local camera store. I get a tiny amount of warm fuzzies supporting a seemingly deserving local business with so much contraction going on in the field these days. There just aren’t many camera stores left anymore and I’m as guilty as anyone of indulging the Amazon convenience bug.
So if your past labor troubles were legitimate I do hope they are now behind you and your company will thrive going forward. If they were false I hope you muddle through as best you’re able( I’ve no doubt you will )until business is as booming as ever.
…for context (for those that don’t want to click) these are both press releases released by B&H Photo Video and written by (I’m going to assume from the user name) the poster in question. In regards to the Newsweek cite if you click on it you are taken to this page:
https://www.newsweek.com/americas-best-customer-service-2019
The survey conducted by Statisia"ranks 423 companies across 141 categories". So with all due respect I’d take this with a grain of salt. B&H Photo Video was first in the Photo and Video Equipment Online category. Ranking second was Canon and third was Go Pro. So how much did brand recognition go towards how people chose to rank the companies on the list?
As for the second press release: this time B&H choose **not **to link to the original “award.” After a bit of googling though we find that Statista is involved yet again. This appears to be more information about this.
Scrolling down the page, I’m stuck by what we’ve got at the end of the page. Its a link to “logo licensing options” with a link to the badge that you included in your press release. The link is dead now. But in the interests of transparency, are you willing to reveal how much (if anything at all) you paid to Statista for a licence to display that badge?
There is nothing wrong with "blowing your own trumpet.’ But if you are going to blow your own trumpet in defense of “allegations that B&H Foto discriminated against female as well as black and Asian job seekers by hiring only Hispanic men for entry-level positions” you really have to do a better job than this. Especially on a message board dedicated to fighting ignorance.