If they’re inconsiderate enough to be there after closing time, no need to let them out: wait until morning.
In the big department store when I was a kid, it used to take 10 minutes just to get out at closing time if you were upstairs at the back. But the cash registers were turned off at the posted closing time, the time given on the door when you came in. Nobody was irate about it: you knew that if you wanted to buy something, you had to give yourself enough time to do it before closing.
But I do expect to be able to buy something until closing time. If I can’t buy, then they aren’t open. If they said they’d be open, and they aren’t, they are liars.
Same goes for libraries. When I was a kid, libraries posted the hours they were open and closed. Then they got unionised*, and they started closing at a time different than their posted hours.
*They changed their role model to blue-collar instead of white-collar, and that shift was associated with the unionisation of the library staff.
I’d see doing any more than letting those already in line check out as going above and beyond. OTOH excellent customer service means going above and beyond. It shouldn’t be expected, it should be appreciated, but it is good business sense to make mild exceptions to “the rules” especially if you are a smaller shop more beholden to word of mouth and customer loyalty. (Compared to say a large chain or a discount warehouse operation.)
I’m pleased to see how many agree with me. One person who wanted “one item” was told to wait by the register while someone went to get it. They responded 'Oh, I wanted to check for a few more items. It will only take a couple of minutes." Yeah, right.
Your store must really suck if it takes your cashiers ten minutes to ring up one item.
No, several people posted that each customer should have ten minutes to make a purchase. 7 customers times 10 minutes is 70 minutes.
But that’s only if each customer shops and checks out before the next customer starts.
What you really mean is it’s 70 staff/cashier minutes.
I recently saw an TV ad for a bank that stays open an extra 10 minutes, for those how have a hard time making the normal closing time. They show a bank customer knocking at a door and being told the place is closed but at our bank, that same customer walks right in.
I know a few people who would take that extra 10 minutes into consideration and thus show up at 11 mintues after the hour, and then wonder why the bank is so rigid in their closing time.
It is interesting that everyone in this thread other than me seemed to be paid for the time they worked overtime. Our pay stopped at closing time, even though management expected us to do a closing routine after. It probably was illegal, but I didn’t bother to check, so some of the customers were treated fairly sharply if they felt entitled at that time of the night.
A couple weeks back I stopped at the pet store to get treats for my dog. I didn’t realize it was 7:15. They close at 7. I started to walk away from the door but they came out and said to come on in and get what I needed as long as I could pay in cash. I said I didn’t mind at all coming back since they were closed. They insisted I come in. I thought it was great service and I will definitely go back there from now on, during open hours, of course.
So my point is I certainly didn’t expect to be able to go in after 7, but letting me was probably smart for business. I’ve told many people how great they are, etc.
Ever heard the phrase, “lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part?” It’s not my fault, or my responsibility to go out of my way just because someone else didn’t plan ahead. (5 miles?!?! Oh my god, that’s like what, two minutes?)
Only if you are traveling at 150mph. It’s 10 minutes at 30mph without having to slow or stop.
I would bet that this was an owner-run shop rather than a chain.
Did I win?
My business is healthcare - a pediatrician. We are grateful that some of our local competition takes the attitude expressed by some here, and refuse to see people maybe 5 to 10 minutes late. Nothing makes a formerly loyal patient much more pissed than having waited for a doc in the past and then being turned away for being a bit late. One pissed off patient/customer offsets 10 or so happy people. Unless seeing them will end up putting us so far behind that others will have to wait more than a few minutes as a result we will find a way to still see them, especially if it is less than 15 minutes late … traffic can be a bitch.
Like I said, it is just good business sense to go out of your way a bit.
You’ve never actually been in a convenience store or hardware store, have you?
Yep. You’d pull the shutters halfway down, nobody would be allowed in, and only one till would be open. The customer would usually be accommodating and move out of the way when you cleaned, and they’d kinda feel special that you were still open for them. Special things that took more time to close up (like the ice-cream counter in a sweet shop) would be closed already.
True, if you know it’s an owner-enterprise, you could try knocking to see if they’ll serve you. Most times they won’t, but sometimes they will. Just don’t keep knocking like you deserve to be let in. It’s not like knocking on the door of a chainstore where the people answering the door have nothing to benefit from serving just one more customer.
I would expect no new customers to be let in after the “we’re closed” announcement. No matter how desperate people say they are. Give them an inch, they’ll take a mile. If you let one person in late, someone coming up after THEM will expect to be let in, and on and on and on.
I can date the following story, as it happened just before I went in the Army.
On June, 8, 1974, I was working at a “big box” type store. Outside, about 7:00PM, the tornado sirens started wailing, so an announcement was made for people that they had to leave and seek shelter( we didn’t have any for ourselves even). People actually bitched because they were inconvenienced and couldn’t check out before leaving. We just threw the registers in the safe and ran next door to the restaurant with a basement.
Our manager risked staying a couple more minutes, to be sure everyone had left for safety. He found a clueless custome wandering the aisles, who asked him “Where’s the strawberry jam?”
There’s nothing you can do to make customers more time conscious, except, and this is a big maybe, to train them by cutting them off.
plus the time to check out.
How about we think of the employees. They’re people too. Lots of low-paid retail employees take the bus which they’ll miss because customers feel entitled to their time.
What if the store required the customer to fill out a 10 minute survey before providing after-hours service. The customers would object to this and for good reason. The store is taking from their personal time. They would perceive their patronage as greater value than the employee’s service because it’s ingrained into our society that the customer is always right.
But IMO I think the employee’s time is at least as valuable as the customer’s. The last time I asked a business to stay open I tipped the single employee involved $20 for his time. I had a need for his time and he deserved compensation for it. He agreed to my terms.
I was thinking along the lines of childcare (and just general family time), but the public transportation aspect never occurred to me (since we don’t really have it here). However, we did have several employees who relied on friends or family members for transportation, and those folks are also inconvenienced by late customers.
Sure, for 5 minutes. 
how long do people take grabbing a carton of milk and some bread at a convenience store? I rarely see people check out with more than 5 items. They are too expensive compared to a grocery store.
I’m usually not in hardware stores very long. I know what I need and go straight to it. If I don’t know the store layout it takes longer. Lumber orders take awhile. Theres usually a contractor placing a big order. So, I’m stuck in line waiting my turn. The order desk for lumber closes an hour early. They need that time to pull the lumber and load it into customer’s trucks.