Random thoughts from your Grocery Store Product Demonstrator

[nearwildheaven]

@GargoyleWB

To echo Smeghead’s opinion, I feel the same way in general, but it depends on the situation and the pushiness of the staff. I dislike managerial-enforced courtesy scripts. Contrary to their intended effect, I find them dehumanizing and a waste of time and focus for both the customer and the employee. I don’t feel I’m receiving friendly specialized service when getting unsolicited “Excuse me sir, could I interest you in our…?” “Thank you Mr Gargoyle, would you like assistance with that out to your car?” etc. I also am turned off by any pushy walk-by soliciting such as clipboard surveys, product pitchpersons, and the like.

Kohl’s is horrible about this. “You saved $X today!” I always reply, “But I had to spend $Y to do it!” I’ve also heard they can be terrible to work for, although like anything else, it depends on the store.

In 2011, I worked for a pharmacy that serviced nursing homes, and Gangrene’s (oops, I mean Walgreens) was our go-to store if we didn’t have something in stock. At the time, people who answered the phone gave a canned speech that took about 15 seconds - time that we, and they, could have used for customer service.

[DivineComedienne]

@salinqmind

1. How do you get a job like that? I always thought it was the store employees who handed out samples, not someone from outside. Really, how did you get that job?

2. How is the pay? Do you go from store to store? One store per day, and go to another supermarket chain the next day?

3. What do you do with the leftovers if you have a lot? Put them in the employee break room, throw them out?

4. Shouldn’t you know where the product is stocked in a grocery store? Because people are going to ask where they can find it. Some things speak for themselves - canned beans are in the vegetable aisle, snack crackers in the cracker aisle. I would ascertain the location of your products beforehand.

Yes, I have many burning questions about the wonderful world of free sampling!

1 - 2 - got the job by answering a classified ad, I was looking for something part-time on the weekends. Pay is hourly, significantly above minimum wage but I’m not making a fortune. I usually go to the same chain, but different location, each week, and spend the whole day there; although occasionally I visit a store at different chains.

3 - I try to not have too many leftovers at the end, but I just throw them out. Most stores allow the employees to try samples only when they are on break, and some don’t let the employees try them at all.

4 - Yes, I do know where MY product is kept in the store, I am usually positioned close to it. But I meant that a lot of people ask me where other stuff is because they assume I work for the store and know where everything else is. Often I am visiting a store for the first time and I don’t know the layout.

[DivineComedienne]

@GargoyleWB

I personally had no idea that you folk were working to a quota, I’ve always assumed it was purely promotional. Honestly, if I were the clueless MBA manager, I would be using this to judge the value and the appeal of the product for its future market value, not to push product. My decision not to buy should be of just as much value to a demo promoter as a purchase would be. Honestly, quota-based employment would tend to make me avoid your hosting-establishment entirely.

Well, my understanding is that the company wants to increase customer awareness of the product - that is, let’s say (for example) you always buy Herr’s potato chips. Maybe you don’t try other chips because your mom always bought Herr’s. There are dozens of brands and flavors of chips available, but you always reach for the same ones. So here I am, offering you a sample of a new brand, one you never tried before. And it’s good! Your kids like it! The price is comparable, too. So you buy one. Maybe you don’t buy a bag today, but you might consider it the next time you come in. Maybe now you buy it instead of Herr’s. So we have a new customer. Maybe you come to this store from now on because the store across the street doesn’t carry this new brand of chip your kids love. The store sells more of that type of chip, so they order more. Store increases sales, the chip company sells more to the store. Why is this bad?

[aceplace57]

I’ll always stop if I see sausage or something similar in an electric skillet. Best samples ever.

I’ve often come home with something I bought because of a product demo.