Customer Service

 

“Why don’t we go to Costco anymore?” my son asked me as I pulled into the local grocery store parking lot.

I snapped a reply, “Because they don’t care about their customers anymore.”

It rolled off my tongue so quickly it generated some introspection. Was my statement true? Had it really come to that? We suspended our bi-monthly Costco shop last year when Costco initiated its mask mandate. We stopped going to Fred Meyer (Kroger), and Carrs/Safeway for the same reason. At the height of the quarantine that left only one grocer in our area willing to respect its customers’ medical autonomy, our local neighborhood grocer Three Bears Alaska and we’ve been loyal customers ever since. Three Bears sells Costco products, with a hefty markup to boot, but it’s worth every penny as the last year proved.

As I parked the Suburban I debated inside my head, remembering everything that had happened in the past 17 months. The conclusion was a hard one for me. Yes, Costco chose collective fear over individual rights. Mask mandates, product rationing, service availability – all examples of a corporation top-heavy with bureaucrats tinkering at the expense of customers. Hospitals were worse, airlines equally so. All these institutions (and others) failed or continue to fail their customers.

When will it stop?

This propensity to reject individual rights played out across the societal spectrum last year; everything from churches to government institutions made judgment calls about how best to serve the people in their spheres of influence. Some refused to bow to illegal and unconstitutional dictates, but most capitulated. We the people were caught in the middle.

On the surface it seemed like very few of these institutions bothered to consider the most important facet of customer service: How do these policies/actions/mandates affect the individual: the living, breathing person standing at the entrance? For the most part, the answer was: poorly. But somehow that didn’t matter.

The Costco thing was a hard pill to swallow. You see, I used to be a Costco loyalist. I was almost militant about it. I worked for Costco for twenty-one years, and most of that time was spent supervising customer service. Ask any Costco employee, and 99% of the time they will tell you about what a great company it is to work for. They’re some of the most loyal employees in the industry, and Costco took care of me and my family quite well during those years.

But in April of 2020, they and many others forced families to subject themselves to long-term bronchial infections simply because a few governors have idiot advisors. They showed they cared less about the needs of the person at the counter than they did about the perceptions of those who weren’t.

The grocery stores were one thing, but sadder still were the churches and other care providers who closed their doors, limited interactions with those in need and erected distance barriers. They allowed a few people in far-off capitols to determine the scope and execution of their missions. The perception of the world overshadowed the dire needs of the community and it’s not hyperbole to say that people died as a result. That’s what happens when we concern ourselves less with the people in front of us than with the mob behind them – when no one stands up for the individual, the mob wins…and grows.

Customer service, pastoring, teaching…they’re all about caring for people. As any good pastor or firefighter will tell you, caring for people is the job, and you can’t do it effectively from behind a hazmat suit or over a video call.

Over the course of two decades in member service, I learned a few things about taking care of customer needs. The customer is not always right, sometimes they’re completely wrong, but it’s always your job to hear them out and find a way to satisfy their needs. You can only do that if you actually care about them, and if you don’t, you’d be better off finding yourself a vocation more suited to your empathy level. Something in government, perhaps?

Costco is one of the busiest stores in the world. Usually, the number of customers waiting in line number in double digits, with triple-digit numbers of customers flooding through the entrance behind them every thirty minutes. Less experienced employees tended to get overwhelmed by the mass of people, all clamoring for their needs to be met. Often, I’d take those haggard employees aside for a little pep-talk.

“Don’t focus on the crowd,” I’d say. “Focus on that person in front of you. Smile, be generous, and do whatever it takes to be 100% awesome for them. Do it fast but do it right. And when you’re done? Do it again for the next person, and the next, and the next. And when they’ve all gone home, they’ll know they received the very best care, and that it was worth the wait.”

This is the Gospel, simple and personal: Love others as you love yourself. Every day we have a chance to live it out in the way we decide to serve others. Or, we can choose to side with larger concerns. We are always invested in our priorities.

At Costco, customers would frequently tell me, “Wow, you guys are so much faster than the DMV.”

My response to them was always the same. “Yeah, the DMV isn’t invested in your satisfaction. We are.”

At least, that’s the way it used to be.

Published in General
This post was promoted to the Main Feed by a Ricochet Editor at the recommendation of Ricochet members. Like this post? Want to comment? Join Ricochet’s community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Join Ricochet for Free.

There are 35 comments.

Become a member to join the conversation. Or sign in if you're already a member.
  1. Ontheleftcoast Inactive
    Ontheleftcoast
    @Ontheleftcoast

    Vince Guerra: Over the course of two decades in member service I learned a few things about taking care of customer needs. The customer is not always right, sometimes they’re completely wrong, but it’s always your job to hear them out and find a way to satisfy their needs. You can only do that if you actually care about them, and if you don’t, you’d be better off finding yourself a vocation more suited to your empathy level.

    That’s it exactly.

    • #1
  2. James Salerno Inactive
    James Salerno
    @JamesSalerno

    Good points. This is something that should be talked about more. I think customer service has gotten much worse across the board, even compared to just five years ago.

    Minimum wage has outsourced customer service to either total automation or third world countries. State corporatism has eliminated the corrective mechanisms for poor behavior, namely competition. As our government continues to crush small business, this will only get worse.

    I had a package delivered from Amazon last week. They take a picture of the delivery and post it on their app with your tracking info. This package was delivered to a different address, the porch looked nothing like mine. No clue where they sent it. Amazon no longer has an “I didn’t receive the item” option on their app, you can only request a refund. I had to use their chat service and the rep kept telling me that on their end, they show the item was delivered. After repeating what happened a dozen times, I gave up and tried again the next day. The next person said that they would contact the driver to determine where it went, so at least now I’m getting somewhere. But I never heard back. On the third try, I was eventually able to get a full refund. I’m sure everyone here has encountered this with their phone company, internet provider, etc.

    • #2
  3. Annefy Member
    Annefy
    @Annefy

    I’ve had occasion to fly several times lately.  I have felt for years that the airlines hate their customers; it seems COVID gave all employees license to stop pretending otherwise.

    As to your larger point, one of the toughest parts of this past year plus has been personally coming to grips with the failure of so many to step up in a time of need. 

    • #3
  4. Vince Guerra Inactive
    Vince Guerra
    @VinceGuerra

    James Salerno (View Comment):
    I’m sure everyone here has encountered this with their phone company, internet provider, etc.

    I’m sure most of us have had a similar experience with Amazon – or as we call it in our house, Buy N Large – as well.  

    • #4
  5. Hoyacon Member
    Hoyacon
    @Hoyacon

    Yes, Costco chose collective fear over individual rights. Mask mandates, product rationing, service availability – all examples of a corporation top-heavy with bureaucrats tinkering at the expense of customers.

    I was once a very regular patron and have been once in the last 14 months.   But I question whether this is is a rejection of the customer.  I rather see it as preferring one type of customer over another, with the strong possibility that management has chosen the larger group who isn’t overly bothered by these policies.

    • #5
  6. Vince Guerra Inactive
    Vince Guerra
    @VinceGuerra

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

    Yes, Costco chose collective fear over individual rights. Mask mandates, product rationing, service availability – all examples of a corporation top-heavy with bureaucrats tinkering at the expense of customers.

    I was once a very regular patron and have been once in the last 14 months. But I question whether this is is a rejection of the customer. I rather see it as preferring one type of customer over another,

    Exactly.

    with the strong possibility that management has chosen the larger group who isn’t overly bothered by these policies.

    Again, exactly. Good Samaritan, or pompous Levite, the choice is ours. 

    • #6
  7. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    James Salerno (View Comment):
    I had a package delivered from Amazon last week. They take a picture of the delivery and post it on their app with your tracking info. This package was delivered to a different address, the porch looked nothing like mine. No clue where they sent it. Amazon no longer has an “I didn’t receive the item” option on their app, you can only request a refund. I had to use their chat service and the rep kept telling me that on their end, they show the item was delivered. After repeating what happened a dozen times, I gave up and tried again the next day. The next person said that they would contact the driver to determine where it went, so at least now I’m getting somewhere. But I never heard back. On the third try, I was eventually able to get a full refund. I’m sure everyone here has encountered this with their phone company, internet provider, etc.

    That seems odd, since I’ve been assured on different occasions that delivery people – now even including USPS – have GPS locations for where they deliver things.  So if your package was delivered to the wrong address, they should only need to look up the GPS “snapshot” at the time of delivery, to know where it was left.

    Of course, this wouldn’t be the first time a business – or the government, or a quasi-government business in the case of USPS – has fudged or even lied outright.

    I can’t totally complain, though.  A few times it’s worked in my favor.  Such as, a few years ago I bought some vintage (1977 or so) high-end audio gear on ebay.  Somewhere around $600 as I recall, with tax and shipping.  On the scheduled day of (UPS) delivery, I was home all day (I usually am anyway, but make sure to be when expecting a valuable delivery) but by late afternoon nothing had come.  I checked the status and was surprised to see it was already “delivered” and had “proof of delivery,” a signature nothing like mine and not even remotely resembling my name.

    Starting that day and over the course of a couple more days, I made several calls to UPS about finding out where it was actually delivered to (improperly), but they couldn’t find it.  So I wound up getting a refund of the purchase price I had paid, plus the shipping cost.  Which was a minimum really, since I’d actually wanted the items and they’re not something you can just go and buy any day you feel like it.

    A couple days after that, the people the items had been delivered to – same “house number” but 4 streets away! – brought it to me.  So I had my items after all, paid for by UPS.

    On the whole, it’s more difficult to be upset about poor customer service etc, that “pays” me $600.

    • #7
  8. OldPhil Coolidge
    OldPhil
    @OldPhil

    The only problem I’d have with the Costco approach is there would be no local stores for me to patronize, because they ALL required masks.

    Here’s an example of a customer service issue I had last June: I ordered a new golf bag ($149) from Dick’s Sporting Goods. After a week, I checked the tracking number and it was still sitting at the shipping point in California (we’re in Virginia). I called Dick’s, and the lady said it must be lost, I’ll send you another. 

    Seven days later a truck pulls up to the house and the driver leaves me TWO brand-new golf bags. I get on the horn again and talk to Dick’s. She tells me to go to their site, print out a return label, and drop one off at any Fed Ex location. The CVS a couple miles away is one, so no problem.

    A week or so later, I’m looking at my credit card bill on-line, and it shows Dick’s has credited me with the amount of my original bill for the golf bag. Obviously, they thought I was returning the order. Once again I’m on the phone and explaining what happened to the rep. He says this is very interesting, and tells me to hang on while he talks to a supervisor. He comes back on the line, says there’s nothing they can do about it, and to “have a blessed day.” So I got a free golf bag .

     

    • #8
  9. Hoyacon Member
    Hoyacon
    @Hoyacon

    OldPhil (View Comment):

    The only problem I’d have with the Costco approach is there would be no local stores for me to patronize, because they ALL required masks.

    Here’s an example of a customer service issue I had last June: I ordered a new golf bag ($149) from Dick’s Sporting Goods. After a week, I checked the tracking number and it was still sitting at the shipping point in California (we’re in Virginia). I called Dick’s, and the lady said it must be lost, I’ll send you another.

    Seven days later a truck pulls up to the house and the driver leaves me TWO brand-new golf bags. I get on the horn again and talk to Dick’s. She tells me to go to their site, print out a return label, and drop one off at any Fed Ex location. The CVS a couple miles away is one, so no problem.

    A week or so later, I’m looking at my credit card bill on-line, and it shows Dick’s has credited me with the amount of my original bill for the golf bag. Obviously, they thought I I’ve that a. was returning the order. Once again I’m on the phone and explaining what happened to the rep. He says this is very interesting, and tells me to hang on while he talks to a supervisor. He comes back on the line, says there’s nothing they can do about it, and to “have a blessed day.” So I got a free golf bag .

    I may give that a shot.

     

     

    • #9
  10. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

    OldPhil (View Comment):

    The only problem I’d have with the Costco approach is there would be no local stores for me to patronize, because they ALL required masks.

    Here’s an example of a customer service issue I had last June: I ordered a new golf bag ($149) from Dick’s Sporting Goods. After a week, I checked the tracking number and it was still sitting at the shipping point in California (we’re in Virginia). I called Dick’s, and the lady said it must be lost, I’ll send you another.

    Seven days later a truck pulls up to the house and the driver leaves me TWO brand-new golf bags. I get on the horn again and talk to Dick’s. She tells me to go to their site, print out a return label, and drop one off at any Fed Ex location. The CVS a couple miles away is one, so no problem.

    A week or so later, I’m looking at my credit card bill on-line, and it shows Dick’s has credited me with the amount of my original bill for the golf bag. Obviously, they thought I I’ve that a. was returning the order. Once again I’m on the phone and explaining what happened to the rep. He says this is very interesting, and tells me to hang on while he talks to a supervisor. He comes back on the line, says there’s nothing they can do about it, and to “have a blessed day.” So I got a free golf bag .

    I may give that a shot.

    Yes sometimes they are what we used to call “administratively incapable” of doing things right, which isn’t so bad if it ends up making something free.

    Actually something like that happened just last month, on a much smaller scale.  There were some cats in Phoenix that started hanging around where the people didn’t want to spend money on food, so I offered to pay for the food if they’d just give it to them.  That went on for maybe a couple years already, and then I moved away, but I made a promise so each month I still pay for a large (38 lb at Sam’s Club) bag of dry food, and two 36-packs of canned (at walmart) for those cats in Phoenix.

    I pay for store pick-up, and last month Walmart charged me for one of the 36-packs, but when the person went to pick it up, they couldn’t find it.  Eventually they gave her a package off the shelf.

    A few days later, I got email notification that since the “official” pickup order hadn’t been picked up, they were “returning” it and crediting my bank card.  So I saved that cost of cat food that was already picked up, even though it was only a little over $13 but still a nice payoff for their incompetence.

     

    • #10
  11. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    kedavis (View Comment):
    There were some cats in Phoenix that started hanging around where the people didn’t want to spend money on food, so I offered to pay for the food if they’d just give it to them

    Oh!  You were talking about real cats.  I thought you were talking about unemployed musicians.

    • #11
  12. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Flicker (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):
    There were some cats in Phoenix that started hanging around where the people didn’t want to spend money on food, so I offered to pay for the food if they’d just give it to them

    Oh! You were talking about real cats. I thought you were talking about unemployed musicians.

    Nope, didn’t mean hep cats.  :-)

    • #12
  13. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    Vince Guerra: ou’d be better off finding yourself a vocation more suited to your empathy level.

    My job is perfect for my empathy level; zero.

    • #13
  14. Basil Fawlty Member
    Basil Fawlty
    @BasilFawlty

    kedavis (View Comment):
    On the whole, it’s more difficult to be upset about poor customer service etc, that “pays” me $600.

    Gotta wonder who ate the $600.

    • #14
  15. Basil Fawlty Member
    Basil Fawlty
    @BasilFawlty

    Vince Guerra: At Costco, customers would frequently tell me, “Wow, you guys are so much faster than the DMV.”

    Faint praise.

    • #15
  16. RushBabe49 Thatcher
    RushBabe49
    @RushBabe49

    Cut them some slack, Vince.  In Washington, retail stores were mandated by the State to require masks on all shoppers, since July of 2020.  The Dictator made the businesses the enforcers-any store caught allowing unmasked shoppers could potentially lose their business license.  And the State was not joking.  More than one small business did have their license pulled for not following the diktat from the State.  A month ago, that diktat was partially lifted, for those who have been fully vaccinated, and many stores, including Costco, did allow shoppers without masks.  Many of their own employees now are not masked, and they did not ask anyone entering the store about their vaccination status, even though they could have done.  Our mandate is lifted this Wednesday, and there are going to be a lot of happy people.  My experience with Costco customer service during the pandemic has been just fine-their basic attitude has not changed in any way.

    I am a Costco shareholder for nearly 20 years, so I keep track of conditions on the ground.

    • #16
  17. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Basil Fawlty (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):
    On the whole, it’s more difficult to be upset about poor customer service etc, that “pays” me $600.

    Gotta wonder who ate the $600.

    Probably everyone who uses UPS for shipping, a tiny bit each.

    • #17
  18. Vince Guerra Inactive
    Vince Guerra
    @VinceGuerra

    Flicker (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):
    There were some cats in Phoenix that started hanging around where the people didn’t want to spend money on food, so I offered to pay for the food if they’d just give it to them

    Oh! You were talking about real cats. I thought you were talking about unemployed musicians.

    So did I. 

    • #18
  19. JustmeinAZ Member
    JustmeinAZ
    @JustmeinAZ

    OldPhil (View Comment):

    The only problem I’d have with the Costco approach is there would be no local stores for me to patronize, because they ALL required masks.

    Here’s an example of a customer service issue I had last June: I ordered a new golf bag ($149) from Dick’s Sporting Goods. After a week, I checked the tracking number and it was still sitting at the shipping point in California (we’re in Virginia). I called Dick’s, and the lady said it must be lost, I’ll send you another.

    Seven days later a truck pulls up to the house and the driver leaves me TWO brand-new golf bags. I get on the horn again and talk to Dick’s. She tells me to go to their site, print out a return label, and drop one off at any Fed Ex location. The CVS a couple miles away is one, so no problem.

    A week or so later, I’m looking at my credit card bill on-line, and it shows Dick’s has credited me with the amount of my original bill for the golf bag. Obviously, they thought I was returning the order. Once again I’m on the phone and explaining what happened to the rep. He says this is very interesting, and tells me to hang on while he talks to a supervisor. He comes back on the line, says there’s nothing they can do about it, and to “have a blessed day.” So I got a free golf bag .

     

    We had a similar experience a couple of years ago with Walmart. Mr AZ ordered one of those hose reels with wheels that you can wind your garden hose on and move around your yard. It’s not a small item, but not terribly expensive either. Well a few days later we get this huge box delivery from WM. Whoever filled the order pulled a box of FOUR hose reels off the shelf and shipped them to us. Well, we tried to get WM to come and pick up the extras but they wanted us to do the returning. No way. So we paid for one hose reel and now we have four.

    • #19
  20. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    JustmeinAZ (View Comment):

    OldPhil (View Comment):

    The only problem I’d have with the Costco approach is there would be no local stores for me to patronize, because they ALL required masks.

    Here’s an example of a customer service issue I had last June: I ordered a new golf bag ($149) from Dick’s Sporting Goods. After a week, I checked the tracking number and it was still sitting at the shipping point in California (we’re in Virginia). I called Dick’s, and the lady said it must be lost, I’ll send you another.

    Seven days later a truck pulls up to the house and the driver leaves me TWO brand-new golf bags. I get on the horn again and talk to Dick’s. She tells me to go to their site, print out a return label, and drop one off at any Fed Ex location. The CVS a couple miles away is one, so no problem.

    A week or so later, I’m looking at my credit card bill on-line, and it shows Dick’s has credited me with the amount of my original bill for the golf bag. Obviously, they thought I was returning the order. Once again I’m on the phone and explaining what happened to the rep. He says this is very interesting, and tells me to hang on while he talks to a supervisor. He comes back on the line, says there’s nothing they can do about it, and to “have a blessed day.” So I got a free golf bag .

     

    We had a similar experience a couple of years ago with Walmart. Mr AZ ordered one of those hose reels with wheels that you can wind your garden hose on and move around your yard. It’s not a small item, but not terribly expensive either. Well a few days later we get this huge box delivery from WM. Whoever filled the order pulled a box of FOUR hose reels off the shelf and shipped them to us. Well, we tried to get WM to come and pick up the extras but they wanted us to do the returning. No way. So we paid for one hose reel and now we have four.

    Yeah, been there too.  But longer ago.

    I ordered a paper tray for my laser printer, from…  some distributor outfit, I can’t remember the name but I think they’re still pretty big…  and they sent me a CASE of them, like 6 or 8, I don’t remember.  And I only paid for one.  The extras weren’t very useful to me though, and the printer was a not-very-common Panasonic model so I couldn’t get any decent money for them on ebay.

    A few years ago I ordered a pair of tweezers on Amazon, the ones with “scissors” handles, and once again someone sent me a whole box from the warehouse, that had like 8 sets in it.

    • #20
  21. Basil Fawlty Member
    Basil Fawlty
    @BasilFawlty

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Basil Fawlty (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):
    On the whole, it’s more difficult to be upset about poor customer service etc, that “pays” me $600.

    Gotta wonder who ate the $600.

    Probably everyone who uses UPS for shipping, a tiny bit each.

    Or perhaps the UPS driver?

    • #21
  22. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    Vince Guerra (View Comment):

    Flicker (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):
    There were some cats in Phoenix that started hanging around where the people didn’t want to spend money on food, so I offered to pay for the food if they’d just give it to them

    Oh! You were talking about real cats. I thought you were talking about unemployed musicians.

    So did I.

    As in: I handed out bags of food to these cats, man, and they ate it up.  And it wasn’t just I — we had the whole neighborhood doing it.  I just supplied the bread.

    • #22
  23. Vince Guerra Inactive
    Vince Guerra
    @VinceGuerra

    RushBabe49 (View Comment):
    Cut them some slack, Vince.  In Washington, retail stores were mandated by the State to require masks on all shoppers, since July of 2020.  The Dictator made the businesses the enforcers-any store caught allowing unmasked shoppers could potentially lose their business license.

    I cut no slack. They deserve none. When I refer to Costco Wholesale I mean Corporate. Jim Sinegal (founder, former CEO) and Craig Jelinek (current CEO) have enormous influence in the power circles of D.C. as well as in every state and country they do business in, and they’re all over the world, especially in Asia. I have no doubt that they were very much involved in setting the standards that were used in designating “essential services” as well as the exemptions, stipulations on how much authority to give individual stores and customers. If Jelinek had called Jay Inslee there is no way in hell WA would have fined store number 1 in Seattle for doing the right thing.

    Imagine if the world’s #2 retailer had stood up and said, “Nope, member satisfaction is job 1. We’re gonna do this _____.” Like I said, they had their chance to stand up to the mob; they joined them. They probably play golf together. The problem is that all of those men, and all of the other NW CEO’s are true believers.

    As  for the employees: I’m sure there are plenty of employees suffering the health ramifications of throwing freight all night with a mask on. Some of the managers I know told their night merch guys no way, and didn’t enforce anything; others followed the stupidity. The day shift guys had to deal with it, and some still are. One of my friends quit the employee Facebook group because so many employees were ridiculing customers for not wearing masks, while others were bragging about running off customers who refused. That’s the culture Costco created, and as a shareholder myself, it makes my blood boil.

    • #23
  24. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Basil Fawlty (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Basil Fawlty (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):
    On the whole, it’s more difficult to be upset about poor customer service etc, that “pays” me $600.

    Gotta wonder who ate the $600.

    Probably everyone who uses UPS for shipping, a tiny bit each.

    Or perhaps the UPS driver?

    Union probably doesn’t allow that.

    • #24
  25. MarciN Member
    MarciN
    @MarciN

    The problem Costco and every other business faced was that half of their customers and employees, and perhaps more, wanted all of those pandemic measures. That left upper management in a difficult position: they needed to convince one group to let go of the pandemic controls or convince the other to embrace them. 

    In other words, which customers should they stand up for? 

     

    • #25
  26. Vince Guerra Inactive
    Vince Guerra
    @VinceGuerra

    MarciN (View Comment): half of their customers and employees, and perhaps more, wanted all of those pandemic measures

    I reject this premise. A few of the true believers demanded we adopt them, but I hold that the overwhelming majority of people simply follow what they’re told to do, as evidenced in the states/counties/countries that never locked down or required masks. There were no “Mask us now or we walk” revolts in those places. 

    Rational leadership from a few individuals in a few key industries would have changed everything. 

    • #26
  27. MarciN Member
    MarciN
    @MarciN

    Vince Guerra (View Comment):

    MarciN (View Comment): half of their customers and employees, and perhaps more, wanted all of those pandemic measures

    I reject this premise. A few of the true believers demanded we adopt them, but I hold that the overwhelming majority of people simply follow what they’re told to do, as evidenced in the states/counties/countries that never locked down or required masks. There were no “Mask us now or we walk” revolts in those places.

    Rational leadership from a few individuals in a few key industries would have changed everything.

    Possibly.

    Interesting.

    Good point.

    • #27
  28. RushBabe49 Thatcher
    RushBabe49
    @RushBabe49

    The Media and Government spread such abject fear of the virus with all their stories of deaths in nursing homes, overflowing ERs and ICUs, that everyone caught the fear contagion.  That made us susceptible to the lockdowns and restrictions.  That was evil, in my opinion.  Now it is time for us, everyone to throw off the shackles and become free people again.

    • #28
  29. Vince Guerra Inactive
    Vince Guerra
    @VinceGuerra

    RushBabe49 (View Comment):
    That was evil, in my opinion.

    The fear/lies they’ve instituted in children about social interaction and breathing fresh air is/was pure evil. The forced isolation they imposed was pure evil. Those are facts, not opinions. 

    • #29
  30. Al Sparks Coolidge
    Al Sparks
    @AlSparks

    I live in Fairbanks, and all stores that sold groceries had mask mandates.  The nearest place that didn’t was IGA Food Cache in Delta Junction, and the second nearest was 3 Bears in Healy.

    Instead of entering the building of the grocery stores in Fairbanks, I chose to purchase items through curbside pickup.  I find that I like that convenience now that the mask mandates have lifted, and continue a lot of my shopping that way.

    Fairbanks does have a Costco and it replaced Sams Club when they left.  I find that those types of member based wholesale type outlets have a price for their less expensive pricing.

    My time.  I’d rather pay a slightly higher premium for quicker service while standing in line to pay.

    And that gets me back to curbside service.  Ordering stuff 6-10 hours in advance, and waiting a short time in my vehicle after I arrive at the designated time for my groceries fits my overall preference over waiting in line.

    • #30
Become a member to join the conversation. Or sign in if you're already a member.