Letter to Ingles: A Customer's Plea for Bulk

Image by bcmom via Flickr

Dear Sir or Ma'am,

Hi! My name is Joy Beshears and I'm a customer of Ingles in Elkin, NC. Although, I do spread my shopping out among all of the stores in the area, both Food Lions, Wal-Mart, IGA, and even Yadkin Valley General: the only bulk store in the area. Here is my request...I'm going to actually beg you to carry some bulk food I items.

And by bulk I don't mean huge cans of green beans or 50lb bags of rice. I'm talking about bins of loose grains and snacks and the like that one could purchase in the amount they wish: a handful of nuts, a cup of oatmeal, or 4 pounds of pasta. This would enable me to purchase things I want without all of the excessive and wasteful packaging. Frankly, I don't want to pay for packaging. I know that Elkin may not seem the best market for it, but perhaps you could take a serious look at the possibility.

My family has been moving toward a zero waste lifestyle and it is virtually impossible to accomplish that in this area. Even the bulk store I mentioned above will not measure things out into my container for me. Our goal as a family is to not fill landfills with unnecessary waste. When every single item one must purchase is packaged at least partly in plastic, this goal is almost unattainable.

Supply is generated by demand, and when we purchase something over packaged, we send the message that we want more of that item. But consider for a moment that your consumers--including me--may not mean to send that exact message to you, but rather these packaged items are our only option. I urge you to consider becoming the only supplier of natural healthy bulk items in the area. Seriously, I have to drive an hour to buy out of bulk bins. If you do this then I would certainly become a loyal (and monogamous) customer of Ingles. And I'd be willing to bet that I'm not alone.

So, please consider this...bring it up at your next meeting. Should you need a voice from your customer field, I'd be more than happy to attend any meeting or write any letter.

Sincerely,
Joy Beshears

Discount this!

Two days ago I received a coupon at checkout from the Food Lion in Elkin, NC. The coupon is for $5 off your next purchase of $65 or more. Needless to say, I was really excited about this coupon. It doesn't take much to excite me anymore. Sadly, as my husband pointed out, the coupon is only good this Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and since we will be out of town during the coupon dates, we will not be able to redeem it. Bummer! Still, I thought why not ask the manager if they could accept the coupon a day early or give me a rain check. So I got on my cell phone and called the Elkin Food Lion to make my simple request. The answer was NO. What could possibly be her reasoning? Because the coupon is computer generated. I asked the lady if she could do something outside of the coupon to accommodate me. The answer again was NO.

My husband and I are self-employed antique dealers. And it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the economy isn't exactly booming. You would think that a store at which you spend $100 a week would make some sort of exception for you. After all, you are a valued customer. You are an MVP! What happened to the rain check? How about picking up your little manager card and overriding the system? How about loading $5 on a freaking gift card?

My husband had the idea of calling up the manager at the local Ingles grocery store here in Elkin, NC. Perhaps this grocery store would honor the coupon. His request: If we come to your store right now and spend at least $65, will you give us a $5 discount? The answer: NO. This grocery store took a hit when Wal-Mart moved into the same strip mall, but it's really struggling now that the Wal-Mart built a new super center and moved across town. The parking lot is deserted. There is never a line. The produce is always marked down to $.99. And the strip mall is for the most part devoid of businesses. If business sucks so bad, why are you not interested in stealing a customer from Food Lion?

Like I said, we are self-employed. And believe me, if someone walked into my booth at the flea market or antique show and asked for $5 off a $65 purchase, I'd jump on that. If giving a $5 discount meant this customer would buy my coffee table instead of our neighbor's, I'd do it!

It seems to me that the entire retail establishment has lost all creativity. I have worked in a grocery store as a cashier. We always went out of our way for the customer. We have stored groceries in coolers, freezers and bags, even when it meant taking all of the groceries out of their bags and re-bagging them. We have delivered groceries even though we don't deliver. What ever happened to customer service? Isn't the customer always right? I say YES, the customer is always right. And in this case, I, the customer, am RIGHT out the door.