Over in this Pit thread, there was some discussion, starting on the second page, about whether sharing an employee discount is allowed. I noticed that my own ideas of what was reasonable didn’t seem to match the sentiment in that thread. Rather than hijack that thread, I decided to start a new one.
Apparently, the store does not allow sharing one’s employee discount with anyone other than one’s spouse. Does this mean that you can’t advance it to them at the till (reasonable), or does it mean that you can’t buy something for a friend and have him pay you back? If the second, how on earth could that be enforced? The only place I’ve ever worked where I got an employee discount, there was a limit to the total amount we could use it since there was obviously no way to control what we did with things after we purchased them. I always assumed that being able to spread the wealth a bit with one’s discount was just part of the perks of that kind of job.
For those in the other thread who were up in arms about DiosaBellissima’s use of the discount (at least one poster called it theft), what’s the moral difference between the two?
I didn’t read the other thread, but my take on your questions is that the employee discount is a benefit for that person, not for their family and friends. No, it can’t be enforced, but I would say it’s unethical to extend the discount to others.
When I worked at Sears their policy was you, your spouse and your children could use your discount. No one else (and you had to be there with them to get it since you showed your work ID, and you could not ring up your family through the till).
Gifts and the like, okay but you weren’t supposed to buy stuff and have your friends pay you back. I never did, but then my friends didn’t shop there much and of course unless they are exchanging the money right there it’s hard to be sure someone is doing that.
One of my friends has also offered me the use of her discount at the bookstore but I refused. Most of my purchases are splurge (and she lives in another city) and when they are specific orders I usually purchase online and get a similarly low price anyway.
To me, it’s stealing from the company as surely as if you were slipping loonies from the till.
There are certainly shades of grey here. When I was a teenager I worked for Domino’s pizza, and of course sometimes I would get a pizza at an employee discount rate and share it with my family, because who is going to eat a whole pizza by themself? (OK, don’t answer that question)
At any rate, an employer should set its employee discount rate such that if it isn’t stilll profiting (which it may be), it is at least recovering its costs for the item. In that case I wouldn’t feel bad about taking advantage of a friend’s employee discount, especially if I might not have purchased the item otherwise.
Of course it isn’t allowed. If it were, each store would only need to issue one employee discount which could be shared with each and every person in world. Better yet, save time and just lower the price by that amount.
I’d stop short of calling it theft on the part of the friend, and put the blame on the employee for misusing something that is intended as a perk. It is a matter between the employer and the employee who has abused the privilege.
When I worked at an electronics store we got a discount for ourselves and our family. I got my friends discounts all the time and so did pretty much all the employees, including the head manager.
I wouldn’t consider it stealing, though it could be considered abuse of the program, and a bit sleazy depending on the circumstance.
You agree to sell things to me at a discount, you don’t get the right to tell me what I can do with it after I’ve bought it and it’s now my property. There are all sorts of ways to limit your exposure as a business, trying to tell me what I can and can’t do with property I’ve legally purchased is a lousy way to go about it.
Weird. My company explicitly allows this for family and friends – in fact, they actively encourage it in company newsletters and the like. There’s a yearly limit of purchases per employee, and for most items it’s much higher than any one person would ever consume alone (A few items are constrained to 1 or 2/year).
I worked at Sears, too, for a while, and as I recall, there was a limit to the amount we could get a discount on for that reason.
While I worked there, my Mom bought a new refrigerator on my discount.
My position is that if I’m getting a discount, then I can do what I want with the items I buy, including selling them to my friends. If this is financially detrimental to the company, then they’re obviously giving too generous a discount.
But they only extended the discount to you (and perhaps your immediate family which for Sears Canada as of last year was allowed), not to all your friends (unless they work there too). Otherwise the products would be at a lesser price already and they wouldn’t offer discounts.
It doesn’t matter if it was hurting them or not.
Maybe I’m just too honest, but I do think it is stealing and I have no doubt this happens all the time. I’ve skated close to these things (ie buying my brother presents while going 50/50 with my Mom on it) but not passed my discount to friends.
But the goods are fungible. If someone offers to sell me something at a certain price, and I take them up on it, it’s mine to do whatever I wish with, including selling it to someone else.
I object to the implication that I’m dishonest. Regardless of what the company may want, the restrictions they’d like to place on my purchase just aren’t reasonable. Failing to agree to abide by restrictions I don’t agree to doesn’t make me dishonest.
I was pretty much amazed that I was flat out called a thief, especially considering it was ok with her higher ups. Now that I’m aware this isn’t the actual policy, I have no intention of using the discount (plus, I’m a little mad at Borders). It’s not like I walked up and said, “Yeah, I’m using Roomie’s discount. Hi.” She was there, making purchases herself, we’d all talk, boss knew what was going on, etc. etc.
Our tax firm (owned by my father, as I’ve mentioned before. I say ‘our’ because I am the Vice President. . . in an office of two. I digress) charges $250 for the most basic return. I do my friends’ taxes for $10 (or cheap lunch) and their parents’ taxes for usually no more than $50 (depending on how difficult they are- what I charge $50 for would normally cost $500 for the business). Am I stealing from the business? The boss said it’s ok, but am I still stealing?
Although the situation is of course in a way different, it’s a similar principle. The next boss up says it is ok, so does that mean that it is still ethically stealing? I certainly don’t think so.
But it’s not like companies don’t keep track of these things. They know how much is bought by employees using their discount and have this data available. You bet your bippy that they go over this when looking at financial reports. If they were losing too much money on the goods bought with employee discounts, they’d quickly reduce the discount or eliminate it. It’s not like they’ll go, “Gosh, this employee discount is eating at our profits horribly. It’s a shame we can’t do anything to fix this.” If it’s a problem, it’d be changed.
There are some perks that have such obvious temptations that I can’t fault people for taking advantage of them.
Who hasn’t taken a sick day when it’s not them but a dependent who was sick?
Who hasn’t filled up their kid’s back-to-school bag with free pads of paper?
Who hasn’t taken the company jet to a country without extradition and sold it for Krugerrands?
So when the company approves perks they should not be upset when people use them.
When I worked at Domino’s, my boss, the owner, actually encouraged us to use product for ourselves, our friends, and our families. For one, he said, it’s good advertising (people remember when they get cheap stuff or free stuff, even if it’s through an employee), and two, he didn’t pay us very well (you know, it’s still food service) so we might as well get some perks out of the deal.
My boss at Dairy Queen was the same way. Maybe it’s just a food service thing, but every job I’ve worked at, they’ve been cool with me using my employee discount for friends - this from the owners, incidentally, not some random manager.
Flutterby , honestly you shouldn’t feel bad about getting staff discounts. Any large retailer factors that stuff in. I suppose there is a limit your line manager will object to, but she’ll tell you if you are abusing it. Otherwise fill your boots.
I wonder how many policies have been changed due to people abusing them. I wonder if any of the places that have stricter employee discount policies (like, it only applies to employees themselves and their spouses, or there’s a limit on how much they can buy) used to have far more liberal policies until someone took advantage of them by buying hundreds of things a week and re-selling them to casual acquaintances or something.
The clothing store where I work PT gives us 50% off of regularly priced merchandise. Immediate family (mother/father/sister/husband/child) can use the discount, but we have to be present with them when they purchase.
The same store (where I also shopped as a “regular” customer) gives customers 5% off of everything after they spend $500. I have to figure out if 50% off of regular or 5% off of the sale price is better - and shop accordingly as an employee or as a customer (not strictly kosher, but when in Rome…)