Company Policies Often Penny-Wise and Pound-Foolish

One of Son’s school friends is moving, and tomorrow is her last day of school.  I decided to get some photos from their Halloween party printed and put them in a little book for her so she can take some mementos of her first schoolmates to her new home.

So I went to the websites of Costco, CVS and Walgreen’s and checked their 4×6 photo prices.  All were within 2 cents of each other, and since I’m only printing sixteen photos I decided to go to the nearest place to save gas.   I uploaded the  photos to the CVS website and went to check out.

That’s where I ran into two problems.  First, the website indicated it would be 3-4 days before I could pick up my photos.  That was surprising to me since my store has a photo lab right there, and I can’t imagine that they would be so busy with internet and drop-in orders that they wouldn’t be able to fulfill my order the next day.   What’s the problem?  Annoying, but something I could live with, as I figured the computer added extra time in case there was a problem.   I  thought it was most likely they actually would be ready the next day, and if not then I would mail it.  What kid doesn’t like to get a surprise in the mail?

Second, they indicated that because my order was under $5.00 they were going to charge me a $1.49 service charge.

What?

This I do not understand.  If I walk into their store and buy a pack of gum they don’t charge me a $1.49 service charge.  Why would they charge me a service charge for buying under $5 worth of photos?  Especially when I went to their website to order them, and saved them all that employee work time.

This did not sit well with me, so CVS lost not only my $3 and change order, but any future photo order.  And I wouldn’t be walking into their store to potentially spend more money, either.

Just another example of a company being penny wise and pound foolish.

So who got my business?

The company who gave me a free 8×10 last week, for a total order of $0.00.  And didn’t bat an eye.  And smiled and thanked me.

The company that said they’d have my photos ready by 7:30 am (and I hadn’t ordered until 11:00 pm the night before).

The company who got an additional $11 out of me (well, it was $30 worth of merchandise for $11, but still…)…

Pound-wise Walgreens.

Have you seen examples of companies doing things like this?  Bloggers, please tell your stories.  If you link back I’ll add your link to this post!  And non-bloggers, please leave a comment.  We’d love to hear!

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