Do Staples want to sell staples or not?

So there I was, out of staples for my home office stapler. No sign of any odd staples lying around or even a discarded box. What size to buy? The stapler didn't have any marking on it to suggest what size to buy. Being ever-resourceful I took said stapler to Staples so I could check I purchased the correct size.

Along with the box of printer paper (£11.45) I took a cellophane-wrapped box of staples to the checkout. On asking the till operator if I could break open the cellophane he said "No". Could the staples be returned "No". On chivying him a little it he asked another operator - "We shouldn't really" came her reply.

Eventually the second operator gave the first permission to break open the cellophane although "We are not supposed to" came the retort.

Well the staples were the correct size. Hey presto! a sale of the princely sum of £1.26 was made in addition to the printer paper.

Small but beautiful

It's the close season for table tennis and a great time to stock up on product before prices go back up again. So I went online to see what Tees Sport had on offer in terms of table tennis rubbers.

Tees Sport is a specialist supplier of table tennis gear - superb range of rubbers which is what I was after. Within a day of ordering my two new sheets of rubber - low weight and posted first class - dropped through the letter box. It will be interesting to see how the company now interacts with me given that this was my first purchase from them for about three years.

Deal of the day (DOTD)

I follow Marks & Spencer (M&S) on Twitter for professional purposes. However, I am also a M&S credit card holder and use the points I gain to purchase some of my clothes from the store. I've had a couple of pairs of Blue Harbour moleskin trousers and they are living up to their billing.

Well I was interested in a recent DOTD that flashed up on my Twitter feed. For one day only trekking trousers were on offer at £25 rather than the normal price of £35. I'm not a sucker for an offer but had been thinking of buying such a pair of trousers but hadn't got round to it.

Click through to the offer, order on line - plenty of stock available in 4 colour choices, 3 lengths and a full range of waist sizes. Placed my order on line and opted to collect at the store of my choice - although I could have had them delivered to my home address.

Collected them at my convenience, no fuss and one satisfied walker. Good blended experience of online / instore too. Add in the good looking construction of the product and it looks as though M&S is back on form.

The Bat Doctor

Followers of this blog will know of the cricket gear purchased from Super Sports in Preston recently (see blog of April 14). Well cricket bats are pressed from wood and are prone to cracking and splitting. When what seemed like a small crack appeared in the splice of the bat (getting a bit technical here!) we motored over to Preston to see Mushy in his shop.

He had a good look at it and diagnosed the fault as some glue coming loose and not a split or crack. He explained that if that was the case the crack/split would go through from the front of the bat to the back.

He then spent ten minutes vary carefully re-glueing the bat - he's not known as the Bat Doctor for nothing - and tested the bat himself, exerting his weight on it. My son was informed just to carrying on using the bat and not be afraid of it splitting or cracking - because it shouldn't. If it did we were just to bring it back and he'd replace it.

Super Sports import bats from Pakistan to their own specifcation - the owners go out to witness the pressing process personally In the Palace Shield cricket league based around Blackpool and Preston it is unusual to see cricketers using anything other than a Super Sports bat these days.

It's tough out there

It makes one want to weep as yet another fledgling business hits the buffers. Situated in the Village Walks covered shopping arcade in the Lancashire market town of Poulton-le-Fylde here is another example of how this owner pins their demise on council-imposed parking charges and the competitive advantage of free parking offered by supermarkets and out of town shopping centres.

It would appear that this small centre is almost in freefall. The once fully-occupied and busy market-type shopping arcade has seen a butcher's, bedding shop, and pet shop all close in the last few months. The upmarket jeweller has moved out and relocated within the town centre.

Meanwhile, in the rest of Poulton-le-Fylde the vacancies rise and change of ownership of stores is frequent as owners try to eke out a living in these tough times.

Post Office woes

There was a queue like an execution at the Post Office this morning. Waiting in queues at the Post Office is becoming a common occurrence for me, especially since the local sub-Post Office closed.

I know I'm sad but I did a count up: 18 people in front of me; alternatively 3 or 4 service points (out of a possible 7) open; and, a wait of 8 minutes 6 seconds before I got to a 'hatch'.

This monopoly provider has many transaction types to deal with and, as I was sagely informed by the elderly lady behind me, Tuesday is pension day (evidently). Moreover, it was a day after a Bank Holiday. Well if she knows that, then why doesn't the Post Office management and do something about it? Is it because they don't have to compete with operators who can check passports (other than paying a large fee to the Passport Office to do this), road tax renewed and places to get the postage sorted on anything other than a letter?

Then Post Office personnel try to up sell a guaranteed next day delivery for about £5 rather than just sending my parcel first class - in my case £2.12 - which I thought guaranteed that anyway.

I think the Post Office is trying to be a retailer but they have some way to go. The trouble is many people don't have anywhere else to go: that's the difference.

Don't judge a book by its cover....

The cricket season is upon us; the sweet smell of freshly-mown grass a little way off yet but games to be played. So it was that we motored over to Preston on Sunday to cricket specialist Super Sports (web presence www.super-sports.co.uk).

In an off-pitch location on a fairly busy road, some way out of the town centre, we missed the shop on our first passing. As can be seen by this photo, salubrious is not a word that comes to mind to describe this Aladdin's Cave of cricketing goods.

Step inside and one is greeted warmly by the two co-owners, cricketers themselves, Mushy and Nadeem. Whilst I was seated watching Sky Sports my son was served by the two owners proffering advice and suggestions.

So it was we left goods in hand (imported own label bat made to their own specification, bating gloves, wicket keeping gloves and inners, and thigh pad), wallet a little lighter, but with a warm feeling of time well spent and a store more than worth a repeat visit.

Super Sports can be be found at 39 New Hall Lane, Preston PR1 5NX

Upselling at your Post Office

Standing in a queue, thirteen long, at my local Post Office the other day it would appear the staff are on a selling drive. Seated behind some low screens, but audible to everyone in the queue, an employee was selling an elderly customer some household insurance.

When I got to the head of the queue to send a letter by registered post I was asked if I would like guaranteed next day delivery for ONLY £5. Don't you just love that 'only' tag? I declined the offer and sent the letter for £1.85. But I can see how a flustered customer who has had to wait for seven minutes - yes I timed it (sad I know but I couldn't help it) - might just take that offer.

Having said that it becomes apparent that Post Office staff have to deal with a vast array of services including passport checking, foreign currency transactions, and the selling of financial products. And they do all this in a as friendly a way as possible given the relatively drab store environment.

After sales service

We have had to make a couple of replacement purchases recently: a vacuum cleaner and a dishwasher. Both items were purchased from Currys. The blended experience of online search, reservation, trade-in (of old Dyson vacuum) and delivery (and removal of old dishwasher) were excellent.

However, we have been dismayed by the performance of both products.

The Hoover dishwasher firstly. The seal around the door kept coming adrift, the plate rack kept falling over and the rotary arm (that sprays the water onto the dishes etc.) would not spin. We thought our plates were too big. A call to Curry's helpline got us a home visit from the Hoover engineer. He had to trim the rubber seal and showed us how to change rack height so our plates (which are standard size) now allow the rotary arm to spin. The engineer was excellent, explaining everything and also carrying out an electrical test. The product isn't great though as the seal still keeps coming away.

Now to the Dyson. Using the Curry's helpline once again we are patched through to Dyson who are unable to accept our call - too busy?, too few contact personnel? Who knows? I leave name and number on their automated system. Two hours later no response so I tweet my views on the 'service'. I then received a call back from a very pleasant Dyson employee. Our DC25 has been registered with Dyson so they know the model number we have and I explain the problem. The cleaner will not return to an an upright position. Yes, Dyson know about this design fault and to fix it I have to turn the cleaner over and push very hard on the two wheels. The fix works. In the interim I get a direct tweet from Dyson asking if they can help!

So both these big brands know about the faults but are leaving us to find out for ourselves that there is trouble ahead.

There's a market out there waiting to be served

I was really rather taken aback by this selection of birthday cards in my local newsagent the other day. We are an ageing society that's for sure: more people over 65 than under 16 now. But there are companies out there who are really getting to grips with the potential afforded by this group: see http://www.wiltshirefarmfoods.com/ for example

More reasons (2)

I was back in my local Morrisons last Sunday after my previous fraught expedition there (see blog of 18 May 2009). I was greeted by a busy, well-stocked and visually pleasing operation that has benefited from a decent overhaul. The Market Street offer is now much clearer. As for fruit and vegetables - it couldn't be easier to shop that part of the store.

Much has been made of the impact of CEO Marc Bolland on helping turn round the business. Well, now he's off to take up the CEO role at M&S. There has been speculation that the turnaround plan was in place when Bolland arrived at Morrisons and that he was responsible for the execution of the plan. Bolland came with a background in brands and now he has added to this with some decent retail experience - the things he seemingly lacked when he arrived at Morrisons.

So it will be interesting to see if and how Morrisons keep up the pace, and the changes that will no doubt be made under Bolland's leadership at M&S.