An Open Letter to Meijer

Dear Meijer (because I know you're reading ... ),

I first want to congratulate you on the fabulous service I received on Saturday. Everything was still in stock, even though I didn't make it there until after closing at work. My cashier was amazing; friendly, cheerful, helpful, you name it. She deserves a raise, and you should cut her a break on not being "fast enough" per your ring rate standards. She's a rockin' cashier regardless of whether you think she gets it done fast enough or not. I was pleased as a peach with the entire event after some pretty awful customer service experiences at your stores in the recent past (read: evil Coke Vendor ... wait, you already did). Kudos to you this time for sure.

On the other hand, I do want to add that I'm a wee bit annoyed with the entire Mealbox coupon operation. I think it's great that Meijer is offering store brand printables online since many, many other branded stores have been doing it for quite awhile. As well, although it takes some getting used to, the Mealbox widget isn't the worst device ever.

My annoyance comes from your recent change of the wording to include the awful "One coupon per transaction". I know why you did it. I get that the Mealbox pasta deals got way too much PR and far too many crazies went out and raided the place of free spaghetti. They have a stern talking to coming as well, but do you honestly think one per transaction is a realistic expectation? Do you know of anyone who only needs ONE box of spaghetti, ONE pound of meat, ONE bottle of marinade? In houses like mine, where SEVEN people currently eat dinner each night, it would be nearly impossible to feed them within your restrictions. Do you not encourage people to buy things from you? Or, instead, are you really interested in wasting mine (and your cashier's) time ringing through individual orders so that the letter of the law is followed? My preference, of course, is to not do 12 transactions every time I go to Meijer, but you better bet your bubble gum that I will, and so will many, many others. For a company so darn determined to meet ring rates and quotas, that's not efficient or logical planning at all.

In closing, I will continue to love you on whole, dear Meijer. I am merely temporarily annoyed with your mid-stream wording changes (like switching the pasta coupon wording in the middle of a week ... crafty, crafty) and mixed messages. You either want me to buy things, or you don't. You can't have it both ways.

And that cashier still needs a raise.


Simply,

Em.