This an important social issue as well.
They can’t keep a grocery store open in our downtown area. The very last one closed recently and they are having trouble finding a replacement. Farmer Jack’s pulled out.
People are starting to move downtown but there are no conveniences nor even basic groceries and businesses that support the infrastructure. Doesn’t make sense. Haven’t they ever played Sim City, ferchrissakes!
There’s a joke in there somewhere, I just know it…
The 7-11s here have their coffee supplied by the same company that many of the mid-level restaurants (Fridays, ApplebeesCoveredInBees, Red Lobster, Steak and Ale, etc…) use. It’s good, and the places are usually clean.
There are a couple of stores, tho, that must be run by the slackers of the local chain. But, they’re in some pretty crappy neighbourhoods, too, I only go for the H2O brand of water when working near one. Yeah, you heard right, the 7-11s here sell a brand of bottled water called H2O. 69 cents for a liter.
One of our local fast food chains, Braums, has put a mini grocery in every one of their stores. Fresh fruit and veggies, meats, bread, frozen dinners, etc… Reasonably priced, too. They have always sold milk and ice cream out of their stores, having their own local dairy and all. I guess the beef is from the non producing cows? 
Oh, I miss 7-11. We don’t have them here in NB, and I really used to enjoy a nice icey Coke Slurpee on a hot day when I lived in Winnipeg.
The only mildly annoying incident I’ve ever had there had to do with cigarettes. I was 24 and they refused to sell to me because I didn’t have ID (fair enough, although I was a regular and the cashier knew it), but had no issue with me handing my money to my boyfriend and asking him to buy them for me. He was the same age and also not carrying identification (and wasn’t asked). :dubious:
Thing about shopping is, you can get 'em to tell you the price of what you plan on buying before you hand over your cash… So after you plonk your goodies on the counter and they tell you what you’re up for, thats when you makes your choice. Walking off with your $20 is still an option at that point. One is reminded of the adage about not liking Mickey Mouse and not going to Disneyland.
sorry… I was boozed up… I was just furious when I got home… after the chip incident a little while ago. It just feels like highway robbery. The reason why I ended up with a 5 and some change was because I paid for it plus a burger but there was no price on it and when I found out it was 3.99 I told him to screw that and he gave me the 4$ in coins back for that as well as the other change. The toilet paper wasn’t that much… 2.59. The white sesame bread must have been around 3 some… I just don’t like going in with a 20 and coming out with a 5. The chip n dip incident got me riled up from before.
As for the swearing… yeah I wasn’t sure if it was allowed… so you do that stuff in the pit eh… well… move it there then.
We have no 7-11s in Fargo N.D. anymore. They were all replaced by, I kid you not, "Kum-N-Go.
Yes. “Kum-N-Go”.
I do not go into “Kum-N-Go”.
Night Owl has them for less than $2.50. Seven Eleven the same. You must live in Toorak.
Well, at the supermarket down the street, a loaf of store-brand white bread is 69 cents. Name-brand white is about $1.49, and name-brand whole wheat, anywhere from $2.00 to $3.50. There is no store-brand whole wheat.
Pennies.
I’m serious. Watch the total sale of the people in front of you in line - or make note of your own purchases. Approximately 7 out of 10 transactions end in either:a 1
or
a 6
And you know what that means: 4 pennies change 70% of the time. Just yesterday, I saw someone on line buy a couple packs of cigarettes, and their total was $9.01. The next person was buying their 2 kids slurpees - the total was $2.16. The give-a-penny / take-a-penny cup was empty and these customers left the store a pound heavier than they came in.
Don’t give me any of this, ‘it’s not 7-11’s fault - it’s the sales tax laws’ bullshit. Theses franchisees are hiding a good portion of their cash sales from both the Department of Finance and the Southland Corporation anyway. If they weren’t, the nickel and diming from the state and their parent company would put them out of business.
These pennies really slow down the entire operation in a convenience store. Do the math[ul]Cashiers waiting for the time release safe to spit out the next roll of pennies: 2 Minutes[li]That one unorganized lady who says, ‘wait, I have THE penny’ - which unfortunately is buried at the bottom of her change purse: 1 MinuteThe fact no South Asian cashier will actually hand the change to the customer (for fear of touching them and catching caucasianitis). Times wasted swiping the 99 cents change off the counter without dropping any: 30 seconds.[/ul]Convenience, my ass. We don’t have Kum-n-Gos or Circle Ks in this area - but if we did they’re probhably just as bad.[/li]
In case any NYer’s missed it, the bloodstains of suburbia know as 7-11s are retuning to Manhattan - The 1st one is slated to open on Park Avenue.
Do you have something with which to back this up? (Even if anecdotal.) Because accusations like this should not be thrown around willy nilly (as I found out myself in a different thread some time back).
Anecdotal? Hmmmm…OK.
Depending what state you live in, make note of who makes the beer deliveries to your local 7-11 store. If it’s a white, umarked step van who’s delivering everything from Bud To Miller Lite and Heineken to Becks odds are they’re purchasing their beer ‘under the radar’ - not from a regional distributor. And when you buy under the radar, neither the state nor Southland necessarily know about it.
Check the dumpster where they throw out the unread Sunday newspapers - do you see the coupon inserts that were in the paper the day before?
Of the cash registers at the counter - Is there a 3rd $99 Casio casio model they usually ring up lottery tickets on?
Does your 7-11 let customers purchase coffee, fountain soda or slurpees in a non 7-11 cup? Sales are reported & audited via cup inventory.
Make note of how cigarettes are sold. Are they rung up as one item or 2? Example: is it charged as $4.59 + tax or $4.19 + tax / 40¢ non-tax? If it’s the latter - the store owner is only reporting the sales tax based on the carton price.
That’s just a few of the tricks I had to do in my teenage employment gig at 7-11. I’m as much able to ‘prove’ my willy-nilly accusations here as I am to give a valid reason for why the clerks won’t hand people their change. But talk to a few small merchants, restauranteurs or tavern owners you know well and ask them this: If it wasn’t for the evasion gimmicks mom & pop stores are rumored to do - How many would still be in business if those gimmicks didn’t exist?
Cool. See, to me, this is a good cite for what you said earlier. I’m not at all opposed to first person anecdotal evidence. Well, in most cases.
As to those specifcs you mentioned, yes, I have seen some of those things.
Interesting…