The following narrative was written by me. I made 2 hard copies for other employees to read, and sent a digital copy to the store management's email. Since quite a few OfficeMax hourly employees are on my Facebook friends list, I posted it on Facebook, as a note. I did this so that more could read it, not as a quip against OfficeMax, but as a literary venture. Some big-whig in OfficeMax HR read it, and sent word to my store manager that I am to be terminated for damaging OfficeMax's image. And it was done. I think there's a bit of conflict with the termination and the freedom of speech, but you all can be the judge of that.
The old catch phrase “Would you like fries with that” has long been ridiculed in popular culture for being a lowly, humiliating phrase associated with poor income, and little future aspirations. This week, our store has put forth personal goals, with definitive repercussions for not hitting our MaxAssurance goals for the week. Which leads to me the reason behind writing this narrative. This push on MaxAssurance leads me to believe that OfficeMax is looking to coin an equivalent to McDonald’s phrase,
“Would you like a Max with that?”
Now, do not take this as why I will not get a MaxAssurance, but as a reasoning as to why I, and others, are not hitting that target posted for everyone to see in the break room. I plan on making this as non-subjective as possible, with few personal anecdotes. However, as I am the author in this particular narrative, there will be a few moments where it may become a bit subjective and personal. Also, keep in mind that I, alone wrote this based on my personal observations and knowledge. I did not poll the other employees, nor did I poll the customers that did, or did not, go for the additional coverage we offer. I will do my best to go over generalities of the coverage itself, as well as item specifics, and the goal structuring itself. Bear with me, as I may become a bit wordy throughout this piece. There will be a lot of personal voice in this, as many professors have told me I do quite a bit in my writings. Now then, on to the subject at hand, MaxAssurance.
Point 1: customers and the Max
The first, and most important, point I believe I should make is that of the consumer, and their issues with both the ideology and interest behind of the program. The average consumer does not know what happens to their products before they get them, and most do not really care. All they know is that they want to buy a new product in new condition. What they do know is the information supplied to them, whether it be by media, personal anecdotes, or actual experiences they have had. If any of our consumers happen to read Consumer Reports, they know that they strongly recommend against such things as MaxAssurance, and other add-on plans. Today’s products already come with a more than sufficient warranty, and by the time the post-manufacture warranty is expired, most consumers are ready to upgrade, or do without the original product.
For instance, our 3 year furniture plan. If someone has a desk or chair for two and a half years, and a caster breaks, they are more likely to buy a new chair than go through the MaxAssurance process. With technology, by the time the MaxAssurance kicks in on computers, their computer is more than likely quite outdated, and they will not see the benefit of getting that one fixed, or are more likely to buy a new computer all together. The average consumer also lives by the “if it doesn’t break in the first 30 days, it probably won’t ever” ideology.
Due to our short-attention-span having American culture, by the time that 30 days is up, the initial impact of the purchase price has diminished enough to where it’s not a huge deal. Customer’s personal previous experience with MaxAssurance also has an effect on whether or not they will do it again. I have personally spoken with customers who were rather irked about how the process is handled, and that there is nothing that we, in the store, can do about it. They see it as a transaction between them and the store. They paid us, so they want us to fix the problem. And quite frankly, we do not do anything in store. I have been told by 2 separate customers that because of our lack of action in store, that they will never shop here again. But, being in retail for nearly 8 years now, I know that is more than likely a fallacy. Regardless, that speaks louder than the customer that never comes in, and has no issues with the program. And, if they have to send a product back in, that is still a hassle for them. They do not know when they will get it back, or if they will fix it any better than it was before. Time is money, and if that item they sent out is part of what makes their business run, that’s bad news for them. This leads me to the next point about consumers. The current economic state, both as a generality, and specifically for our city.
In general, the United States, and world, economy is in bad shape. Due mostly to credit issues, and the world’s reliance on American consumers to buy stuff. Several countries are hit rather hard by the United State’s poor economic policies (or lack there of ), and the way they have dealt with spending and lending. What does that have to do with selling MaxAssurances? Well, pretty much everything. The cost of food, clothing, transportation, communication, and general merchandise is going up, and the average US wage has moved less than 1% if inflaction is factored in. Unemployment is going up, reaching record highs since the original Great Depression. Keep in mind, that being unemployed is not the lack of a job, but not having a job, and in the job market. These stats do not include those who decided to go back to school for training, or those who are simply not actively looking for a job. Enter the word: recession. A recession, generalized, is a lack of spending, and an increase in saving over the course of a 3 or more year period. When a recession is declared, that means that trend has already occurred. We are in a recession, simply put. The United States public is spending less, borrowing less,
and keeping more of their money. With this information at hand, we should not expect to see an increase in MaxAssurance sales compared to last year... or the last 2 years even. Especially locally. A large base of Wichitan’s spending comes from middle class, blue collar manufacture based jobs. Most of those come out of the airline businesses like Cessna, Boeing, Spirit, etc. Those said businesses are laying off currently, and probably haven’t hired many new employees. More than likely, there has been a freeze on salary caps for hourly employees, so they won’t be earning any more than they did last year if they are maxed out in their pay category. They are keeping their money, due to unknown job security, and not too many other job opportunities that pay what they were making. To these folks, a nine dollar MaxAssurance is a quarter tank of gas, or a meal and half at McDonalds. They simply are not in the market for such things. They want what they came for, and nothing else.
Point 2: Item speci c issues
Now that we understand why the consumer is not buying, it is important to see roadblocks for the items that are covered by said coverage. There are several flaws with the coverage, as it is kind of a blanket style coverage, and there are no differences between types of items covered. Almost all coverage is for physical defects and problems. That is fine and dandy with furniture, but technology is a completely different item. A new hard drive will not make their data come back. With data storage devices, in particular, we see this flaw hits hardest. What good does another hard drive do if the information you have put on it over the last two years is gone? If a magnet hits your jump drive and wipes your information, you can still use the drive to store new information, but everything that was on it, is now gone. The biggest problem with portable storage is loosing it, or it being stolen. MaxAssurance does nothing for those folks. Very rarely does an SD card not store information out of the package, and it is highly unlikely that it will stop holding data over a year’s time. So, more than likely, if it works fine out of the package,
it will continue to do so.
Laptops and computers fall into the same ring of fire. Very rarely, does a computer’s hardware cause problems. Usually the problem with computers is malicious software, viruses, or adware that slows it’s performance. And, we offer absolutely nothing to those folks. As a matter of fact, we offer no tech support whatsoever. If someone buys our ridiculously expensive RAM upgrades, we do not offer any kind of assistance with installation. If a customer buys one of our internal optical drives or hard drives, we offer nothing to them as well. And most of the manufacture’s warranty will not cover damage done in improper installation of hardware, and most often, it will void their warranty. Geek Squad and FireDog offer real fixes to their customer’s technology based issues. They have real people, that you could touch if you wanted to, and that is a large sigh of relief to those consumers buying large ticket electronics. It does not speak too highly of a store when they buy an item here, like RAM, and we can only offer other stores or locations that can install the products they purchased here. Why buy here and take it to another store, when that store sells the same thing with support services? Not to mention, with the speed of technological advancement, by the time the MaxAssurance kicks in, their machine is rather outdated, and not worth replacing or fixing.
Furniture probably makes the most sense to get a plan on. However, the only offered plan is for a three year period. Personally, if something breaks in about three years, I am not thinking about the additional coverage I purchased almost 4 years ago. As a matter of fact, I most likely will not remember that I did such. I would most likely buy a replacement item, or find a way to make it work as it is. With chairs, the casters and rollers are the first to go. Most consumers would vouch to just buy new ones. It is a bit easier than sending an entire chair back, or buying a whole new chair. Furniture has a higher initial buy in, and with the current economic stance where it is, spending an extra 20 or so dollars may not be in their best interest, even if it means that 3 years down the road, they may not have to buy another desk. The vast majority of the United States is in a present-tense frame of mind. They only care about making it through, right now. With employment future in the dark unknown, it will be a difficult sell.
Desktop and laptop accessories are also covered by MaxAssurance. Again, the issue with selling these is that it is an extra expense, that is mostly unnecessary. Logitech and Microsoft already have more than sufficient warranties on their peripherals. MaxAssurance only covers moving parts, and things of that nature. An optical or laser mouse has very few moving parts that could go bad. And a lot of mice are built pretty well, as are most keyboards. By far, the biggest problem with keyboards is food, and other, debris getting underneath the keys. It is probably easier to blow out the keyboard or deal with a sticky ‘3’ key than going through the MaxAssurance process, possibly being with out a keyboard for a while - rendering your 1,500 dollar computer into a very expensive paper weight.
Point 3: MaxAssurance Goal Issues
I have stated some issues, most of which are rather obvious, about our consumers, and the items covered by our MaxAssurances, but nothing much about the program itself. There are going to be flaws in any program, but maybe I will shed some light on something that may have been overlooked, or give a starting point for coaching opportunities. The majority of comments found here will be both generalities about the program, and some about the individual goals that have recently been set. First, the generalities.
The largest concern I have about the goal setting of MaxAssurances being sold is this: On what basis are the goals being set to? Are the goals reflecting the statements I have made about the economy, or our local employment issues? Are they based on the usual retail rule of ten percent more than last year? Are the stores in the Michigan area, with their 20 percent unemployment rate state-wide, having to meet the same requirements we are? Are these goals being set for a district, region, or company wide? When our employment rate goes down, do our average ticket and Max goals follow that line?
The second ideology I would like to understand, why the push on MaxAssurance in the first place? What exactly does the company (OfficeMax) get from selling these plans? I know it is done by an outside source, but have never been told what stake OfficeMax has in that company. What kind of profit is there with these plans after the spiff (employee perk) has been taken out of it? What percentage goes to our profit margin? There is no possible way that it is all profit, since it is not something that we take care of in-store. We must be paying something to those who are insuring the products. Also, wouldn’t there be more profit if someone were to buy another printer or chair? Why should we not push ImPress instead, with their high gross margin? More customers are loyal to their printer than they are their furniture supplier. Does it not make more sense to push something more profitable? A coil binding job costs us about five cents, to the customer’s cost of $2.99. Our design service is cost free to us. If we could push that, we do not even have to produce anything physical, and it is a dollar a minute to the customer. I am not saying this as an ImPress associate, but because, to me, it makes more financial sense.
Point 3: Individual MaxAssurance Goal Issues
With the inception of the new white board in the breakroom, and the conception of the individual, weekly goals has lead me to write this. Not so much the board and the goals, but the publicity of the progress we make through the week, and that there will be harsh repercussions for not meeting said goals. As I looked at the board today, some individuals are 12 short of their goal of 13, and work one more day this week. Even the person who decided upon this goal charting is not meeting their goal for the week. As a matter of fact, no one, aside from the person who is not at the store, has met their goal for the week. This leads me to believe that the system is defunct. However, I am not in charge, and probably never will be. (This is a whole other rhetoric for another time.) Although, I am not a leader in the store, I may very well be the only one who actually puts any thought into the one-on-one that we have been made notice of. Onto my thoughts on the individual MaxAssurance goals.
Again, I will start off by questioning the source of the goals. Are they based on an average traffic? Some kind of customer per hour basis maybe? Along with that, how is the amount of opportunities we will see get figured into that goal? If I have a goal of 12, and only see 9 opportunities for the week, I will still be spoken with for not meeting that goal. Will we have somebody go through our register record, tallying up our opportunities, and seeing our percentage for the week? Or will we just go off of the goal verses what we sold for the week?
If we are scheduled for a 3 hour closing shift on the floor, we may not have any opportunities at all, but are still expected to have that time averaged into our goal for the week. It seems as though not enough of the whole dynamic of the store is being taken into consideration for the goals. But, again, I have not been informed as to how these goals are being set.
What is our motivation? Is it the Spiff? Is it the very tiny percentage that we see show up on our checks from a several thousand dollar furniture sale? If so, if the customer returns it, it is taken out of our next check. Is that punishment then? Looking at the Spiff as a positive reinforcement tool, it would seem to fit as punishment. Or, is our motivation the numbers and percentages that are read to us everyday? I do not want to seem too negative, but I do not know of one hourly employee that jumps when he hears percentages and numbers read to them off of a spreadsheet. Not many hourly employees have a large stake in the company to where
such things are going to move them to sell MaxAssurances. Or, is our motivation to keep our jobs? Is the Max goal so important to take income away from yet another US employee? Or, is the motivation the peer pressure created by the dry-erase board? In public schools, it is illegal to post a student's grade with their name on it. It has to do with con dentiality, hazing, and self-esteem. In colleges, grades are posted on-line, but by their student ID number, not their name. Is the public display of our individual performance supposed to make us try and defend our pride, or prove that we are better than another employee? Should we take up poking fun at those not hitting their goal? If so, would not this store turn into a name calling festival, since nobody is making their target? Are we then all failures at our job? And why is it that this is the only gauge we have for performance?
I, for one, have never been for rewarding people for doing what is required. Never to congratulate someone for showing up on time, or turning in their homework when they are supposed to. But, to put the selling of a novelty add-on as a requirement of the employees could be a bit much.
The long awaited conclusion
Now, I did not whip this up to use big words, and show you that I can use word processing software. I wanted to make something definitive, in writing that could be referenced. When I found out that we would have to be able to represent ourselves when spoken with in our one-on-one, this was the first thing that came to mind. I figured it would be best, if I wrote it out, in a planned manner. I wanted to give myself enough time to organize my thoughts, to make sure I made the points I felt I needed to make, and maybe make the coaching a bit easier. If you know the issues I have with the MaxAssurance program, it should be cake for someone to show me answers to some of the queries posted in this narrative. As long as there are logical, and reasonable answers, there is no reason why we cannot make the goals. I would even go so far as to assume that many of the other employees here would have some of the same questions, but either not care enough, or have the capacity to create it all in a written form as I have done for them/us.
I will be leaving this available for everyone to read, sign, discuss, add points to, etc. As I am only one person, and one point of view, it is only fit to allow more feedback than mine.
And to those reading this:
Please add input to this. It is saved on the DTP computer, and was created in Adobe Illustrator. Each page is a separate file, and most pages have room at the bottom. If you need a copy, I can e-mail the PDFs to your personal e-mail, or for nine cents a page, you can have a hard copy for your own. All I ask is that there is no mud-slinging or negativity expressed without some kind of real argument, or backup. The statistics I used are very much real, and if you would like, I can make a works cited-style page if you need them. Also, if you ever need someone to collaborate with, feel free to contact me. I have a certain something for rhetoric and diction, it’s just one of many idiosyncrasies there are to my being.
Many thanks,
- Alan Hull
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