Can't is not the same as won't

To complete my triptic of pieces today I turn my guns on the dreaded customer service.

'Sorry Sir we can't do that' is a phrase I am starting to hear lately especially in call centres.  What they mean, and I point out every time I hear it is simply that they are mixing up 'can't' with 'won't'.  Won't of course sounds bad, can't implies some level of helplessness that will engender sympathy with the customer.

So all you companies out there start to think about a few things

1) Your customers are not all stupid so stop treating them like it
2) If you won't do something (normally because it is outside of your 'policy') be upfront about it.  Use won't do it.  We know you CAN do these things because they are not physically impossible.  You can't walk on water, you can't predict the lotto numbers but you WON'T send me a replacement if you miss-supply me something, not CANT.

Taking stock

I may not be alone in wondering whether there is a link between those companies struggling in the current economic climate and a totally incompetent set of stock control processes.

My list of shame to date

HMV
Argos
PC World
Currys
Halfords

What's the crime?  Simple.  'sorry sir, we do not have that in stock'.  Hopeless.  They are all guilty.  Currys  being the worst with PC World a close second (although they are owned by the same company I undersand, so maybe not a surprise).  I have now been to each of these stores where:

On more than one occasion, a large % of one type of goods on display were simply not in stock.  In PC world it was laptops (they only had three in stock with over 15 on display) and Currys for there freeview TV recorders where they had none but the most expensive of an entire shelf of product available.

HMV ran out of 3 of the top 5 games ahead of XMAS.

What are these management teams thinking?  The Halfords store not only did not have any in stock but also had no knowledge or way of knowing if and when the stock would be in place.

Its a simple proposition in a world where commercial rents are high, overheads of running shops is high and the competition online is high.  Basic rules

1) If you run a shop, make sure you have each item you sell in stock on the shelves or in the warehouse.
2) If you sell the last but one product (or earlier for high turnover products) then ensure that the stock is replenished the next day.  All your shops are 100% computerised so it cannot be a surprise.
3) If you do accidentally run out of stock make sure you know when the replacements is coming and make sure the answer is the next day.

Or, just go out of business and save us all the journey by letting us just go online to purchase from your competition.

I don't go back to a shop that fails so badly on stock control.

Driving up education standards

There is no doubt at all that there are two problems which society faces.

1) That keeping young people in education is hard.  But the benefits are clear.  Especially when there are few jobs for the young.

2) That car insurance is going up and up and up and especially for young people.

It is interesting that given that nearly everybody learns to drive, the one thing that is not part of the curriculum is driving.  Why is that?

Why would you not offer all A Level students free driving lessons as part of the course.  In the last year of A Levels you would be given free weekly driving lessons.  By doing it for free then more lessons (and perhaps go beyond minimum driving standards for the test) could be undertaken by the student leaving them more experienced.  Thus reducing the number of accidents, thus reducing the insurance costs.