Makro v Lotus Economics

[TheWizardofRnR]

You guys should have been around when Foodland was about the only big Supermarket til TOPS ,think Lotus and Big C came next ,then Makro and of course Villa Market has been expanding , sorry to say , I found other stores of the Company not as good as 33& Suk. in Bkk ! It is exact truth when someone said ,no store is perfect and things are found in most every super market that we've discussed. I liked shopping at Friendship ,I always thought that was a Chinese department store until I read about it in T-V 5 or 6 mos. ago. But one thing for sure , in the tropics rats & Roaches come with the weather and seaside livin'.

In New Orleans waiters have a joke ,if a roach flies into anyones soup while the waiter carries it on the tray to his customers table The Waiter calmly says" And you sir had the Palmetto Bug Soup ?" The Customer apologetically says "oh ,no I had the French Onion'' Thus , the disgusting Roach in the soup problem averted, thus no one ever gets to scream at a waiter at the NOLA areas restaurants. See Firesign Theaters video about Rats...

http://youtu.be/dY-FOI-9SOE

[TheWizardofRnR]

Forgot to Mention , MAKRO bought out Siam Foods , so new location on N.Pattaya Rd. might have a new store to add their new products and maybe they will close one store and open other ,for closer to North end of Pattaya seems like a better location then present one.Closer to the masses ?

[ford8]

NO Margarine at all at Lotus now except some dubious "spread"

Edited February 9, 2014 by ford8

[Phil Conners]

I don't care if Makro has more bureaucracy, I pay cash, don't need tax invoices and if they waste my time with their trolley checks I just walk off without it, they always come running after me and can't wait to put a stamp on the bill. I've already told the manager what I think about their stamping of the bill and he seemed genuinely surprised that it was even an issue. He said it was company policy and he would take it up with his boss, but I don't hold my breath for any change.

If we just need a couple of things we normally just stop in at Foodland, but to get everything on the weekly shopping list we generally have to visit 4 supermarkets to find what we want. Makro for kraftkorn bread, fruit, canned, bottled and frozen food, meat, cleaning products. Extra for french cheeses, toiletries, black sesame bread, baguette, frozen food. Foodland for vegetables and hard cheeses, meat. Best for wine and spirits. Lotus doesn't seem to offer anything we can't get somewhere else so at least we don't need to stop in there.

[Brevity]

A lot of people have complained that Makro does a security check when customers are leaving the store and saying that they don't want to be treated like a shoplifter. After leaving Makros with a friend of mine who used to work in retail, I made the same complaint and she explained that this is done more to check the staff than you. She explained that it is an old trick in retail, where a customer and a cashier work together. The cashier doesn't ring everything through and the two of them split the goods or profits later. Perhaps she was just trying to calm me down, but it makes sense when you think about it. If I was going to shoplift, would I hide it in my cart?

[Phil Conners]

Yes, this is why it is done - but by doing the check they are implicitly saying they expect their customers to be thieves. They may have a theft problem, but they should not inconvenience their customers with it. Besides, there are no way they can really check each item by the cursory glance the trolley get before they stamp the bill.

[FiftyTwo]

correction to my earlier post, nappies 30% more in tesco.

makro 179, tesco 239, same make, same package.

[luudee]

If you like V8 (like I do) forget both of them ! You'll have to make a trip to Foodland.

Makro have cans of V8.

Must be new, I've never noticed before. Thanks for the correction !

luudee

[OMGImInPattaya]

Yes, this is why it is done - but by doing the check they are implicitly saying they expect their customers to be thieves. They may have a theft problem, but they should not inconvenience their customers with it. Besides, there are no way they can really check each item by the cursory glance the trolley get before they stamp the bill.

Agree it's mostly security theater, whatever the reason. But being a low-margin big box store, they do have to do all they can to minimize "shrinkage."

[KittenKong]

Besides, there are no way they can really check each item by the cursory glance the trolley get before they stamp the bill.

I think you will find that they are mostly checking the number of items, and whether any obviously expensive items in the trolley have a corresponding entry on the receipt.

Personally I rarely have more than 10 or 15 items and it never takes them more than a second or two to check them and I've nothing better to do anyway, so it's no big deal. And presumably it does help keep prices down which must be in my best interest. I suspect that other shops here lose a lot more money to pilfering and theft.

[Phil Conners]

Well yes but this check would be against organized theft, it's not just shoplifting. And other shops manage to deal with it without inconveniencing their honest customers. Good for you if you're retired and have plenty of time, many of us have a busy life an want to be in and out and don't enjoy being in a queue behind 3-4 top loaded shopping trollies that need to be checked, after just having spent time in another queue up to the checkout.

[JesseFrank]

Well yes but this check would be against organized theft, it's not just shoplifting. And other shops manage to deal with it without inconveniencing their honest customers. Good for you if you're retired and have plenty of time, many of us have a busy life an want to be in and out and don't enjoy being in a queue behind 3-4 top loaded shopping trollies that need to be checked, after just having spent time in another queue up to the checkout.

And especially if you have bought frozen goods .

[OMGImInPattaya]

Well yes but this check would be against organized theft, it's not just shoplifting. And other shops manage to deal with it without inconveniencing their honest customers. Good for you if you're retired and have plenty of time, many of us have a busy life an want to be in and out and don't enjoy being in a queue behind 3-4 top loaded shopping trollies that need to be checked, after just having spent time in another queue up to the checkout.

Would seem like some security cameras above the registers and monitored by these security guys, the way vegas casinos monitor their dealers/punters for cheating and loose play, would be more effective and not aggravate the customers.

[raro]

If you don't trust your employees, you need to replace them.

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[JSixpack]

If you don't trust your employees, you need to replace them.

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Which ones?

[KittenKong]

If you don't trust your employees, you need to replace them.

Hmm. That may be good if you only have one or two employees but I dont think I would care to buy shares in any big company that relied on trust for its security measures.

And what's to stop a trusted employee from becoming untrustworthy overnight?

[raro]

If you don't trust your employees, you need to replace them.

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Which ones?

from what others said, makro conducts the checks at the exit to prevent their employees to scam them.

Apparently, the other supermarket chains are able to employ trustworthy staff and/or have other checks in place that do not interfere with the customers.

Hence my remark, if you know already that you cannot trust the people that work for you, why don't you replace them with trustworthy people instead of harassing your customers.

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[JesseFrank]

If you don't trust your employees, you need to replace them.

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Which ones?

from what others said, makro conducts the checks at the exit to prevent their employees to scam them.

Apparently, the other supermarket chains are able to employ trustworthy staff and/or have other checks in place that do not interfere with the customers.

Hence my remark, if you know already that you cannot trust the people that work for you, why don't you replace them with trustworthy people instead of harassing your customers.

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It has been a long time since I visited a Makro store in the western world, but I don't recall to have ever experienced a similar practice .

[Kitsch22]

If you don't trust your employees, you need to replace them.

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If you do trust your employees, you need to replace you.

[FiftyTwo]

If you don't trust your employees, you need to replace them.

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If you do trust your employees, you need to replace you.

My wife says ........

She liked her boss, and never stole from her, she only stole from the customers.

[raro]

If you don't trust your employees, you need to replace them.

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If you do trust your employees, you need to replace you.

someone needs to count the money :-D

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[ThaiBob]

If you don't trust your employees, you need to replace them.

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Which ones?

from what others said, makro conducts the checks at the exit to prevent their employees to scam them.

Apparently, the other supermarket chains are able to employ trustworthy staff and/or have other checks in place that do not interfere with the customers.

Hence my remark, if you know already that you cannot trust the people that work for you, why don't you replace them with trustworthy people instead of harassing your customers.

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It has been a long time since I visited a Makro store in the western world, but I don't recall to have ever experienced a similar practice .

Makro is like the warehouse stores in America like Costco. Items are large or in large quantities and not conducive to bagging. Prices are kept low by minimizing theft whether employee or customer or working together in collusion. The trolley is checked and the receipt marked so it cannot be used again. It's no big deal to me and I never took this policy personally.

[LennyW]

Makro in Aberdeen used to stamp your receipt but not much of a check. Tesco, hardware house, global house all do it here, it's no big deal.

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[Brevity]

If you don't trust your employees, you need to replace them.

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk

Which ones?

from what others said, makro conducts the checks at the exit to prevent their employees to scam them.

Apparently, the other supermarket chains are able to employ trustworthy staff and/or have other checks in place that do not interfere with the customers.

Hence my remark, if you know already that you cannot trust the people that work for you, why don't you replace them with trustworthy people instead of harassing your customers.

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Well, I suspect that when they hired the current batch of employees, they hired ones they felt were trustworthy.

What would be the sense in getting rid of the current ones because some of them may be dishonest? No one can ever know the true integrity of a person by looking at a CV/application form and having an interview. Dishonest people are hardly going to announce that trait to a potential employer, are they? I am afraid that your suggestion is completely impractical and you could interview 24/7 year round without being completely sure about the people you get.

Perhaps Makro got burned badly by the cashier/customer scam in the past and through trial and error have determined that this is the best method. I am not crazy about it either, but if theft is not reduced as much as possible it affects us all with higher prices. Beside, nobody is forcing me to shop there, and if it bothered me as much as it seems to bother you I wouldn't go back.

[Phil Conners]

I think the cost of the staff for the extra check probably exceed any savings. Sometimes they make funny rules here and once a rule is made, it's like set in concrete and never changed. Probably all part of the face thing. TIT.

[FiftyTwo]

Alternatively

Tesco charge 30% more than Makro to cover the losses from staff stealing.

[JesseFrank]

Alternatively

Tesco charge 30% more than Makro to cover the losses from staff stealing.

Tesco is on average 30% more expensive than Makro ? Wow, I didn't know that.

Many years ago, someone I know bought a Microwave, a case of beer a nd some other items in Tesco South Pattaya. The microwave and the goods were in the trolley and the case of beer was on the load platform below the trolley. The cashier didn't see the case of beer and forgot to check it out, however the microwave and other goods were paid for.

A few days later the person in question received a call from Tesco that they had forgotten to charge him for the beer and if he was willing to pay for it.

Above each check out counter is a camera that records everything, since the had filled his name on the warranty documents, they had the ability to track him down

[Mark T]

Alternatively

Tesco charge 30% more than Makro to cover the losses from staff stealing.

Whilst that may be true, I like to add that IMO some of the products offering from Makro are of inferior quality! This is speaking from experience comparing the stuff of tesco & Makro in Hat Yai

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[FiftyTwo]

Alternatively

Tesco charge 30% more than Makro to cover the losses from staff stealing.

Whilst that may be true, I like to add that IMO some of the products offering from Makro are of inferior quality! This is speaking from experience comparing the stuff of tesco & Makro in Hat Yai

Sent from my GT-P6200

Interesting theory, are you suggesting Mama Poko nappies, Smukers USA jams, Snickers bars or Nestle Corn Flakes contain different and inferior contents in Makro? I can't see it myself.

Edited March 6, 2014 by FiftyTwo

[losworld]

I purchased some frozen vegetables and fish sticks from Makro and the quality was so poor I threw them away.