Attitude change
 

When did "customers" become "consumers"?

when shopping became more than just buying what you need to survive

I really think it's more than that. I think it has more to do with an attitude change toward the customer. Instead of being "custom", we're now thought of as just critters who spew money.

i agree exactly with spived2, consumerism is driven by the fact htat we want things we don't necassarily need.

We're not just critters that spew money?

It's all driven, not by what we need, but by what we have to have. It's all the little things that add up.

So now instead of people to be served, we're machines to be serviced. At best.

We like to call them "guests."

Thank you, that will be all.

Seems to correspond to how our society works and the amoutn of people. When it's a town of 150 with only 80 that don't produce that own means of survival or a good amount of it, then you have customers. When it a town of 27, 000 and 24,000 need retail establishment to acquires living necessities and probably networks of pipes and wires, it's consumers, because it is how the self-perpetuating collectives of people operates. That's my take on it.

This was kindof how I was thinking of it.

My town is inbetween those numbers you gave and I'm watching it actually go through that change of customer to consumer. My town is about 10,000. I've lived her since 1983 and it was a great deal smaller then. No chain grocery stores or dept stores. If you wanted to go shopping you had to go to a couple different stores for the things you needed. We now have 3 grocery stores that are chains and a Walmart, that arrived in about 1992. I can still go to the stores on Main street and be treated like a customer but when I go to the bigger grocery stores and Walmart its a little more like a consumer. Since I've been here so long I know enough people who work at the larger stores that it isn't as bad as some big towns with big stores (our walmart is small). I can see the change. Not all but a lot of it has to do with size. When you are just a number you become the consumer. When it's personal you are the customer.

As a retail manager I have my own take. My attitude towards our guests is in some ways based on the attitude projected towards me. While I am more than happy to go out of my way and"service" someone who is at least somewhat kind, I have no problem giving an a@#hole a bit of their own bitterness.
The saying that "the customer is always right" is no longer accurate. But if you come in with a decent attitude, you will recieve the service you deserve.

No, I think I see what denim is getting at.

There still are places out there that actually do appreciate that you came in today...rather than repeat thankyoucomeagain, like an automaton.
There still are places where the clerks not only know where something is, but they'll actually show you...rather than pointing you toward aisle 54A.
There still are places that have employees that have knowledge in the product that they sell...not just how to work the cash register.
And, believe it or not, there still are still places where the grocery baggers (yes, I said grocery baggers...the guys who bag your groceries for you) still wear white button down shirts and ties.

Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Albertson's just want my money...nothing more. The corner shop down the street wants my business, and those are the places that I try to support with my dollars. Although, it gets harder and harder, as these places become fewer and fewer. It'll be a sad day when there is no more "Haney Shoe Store" or "Kiedel Hardware" or "Bill's Grocery" and when the last of the privately owned businesses closes its doors for good.

I'm seeing more happening in this thread than I expected when I started it. We're all saying real things, as the topic strikes us. It's all valid, though I really did mean more toward what Bill O'Rights, Xell101, and raeanna74 said than the rest.

Hadn't really thought of it as a numbers thing, but it likely is just that. Working at a WalMart, I expect the emphasis is on cost and convienience at the cost of personal service and caring. In other words, that's what part of the cost of driving down the prices is, for instance: higher buyer throughput, which means a lower amount of time spent with each person. The idea is simply to process the people STAT, rather than to chat witih them and have a social time as well.

And I find, if I think of it that way, that I'm guilty too, from the other side of the counter. I generally want to get in and out as fast as I can. I barely see the cashiers and other workers in a WalMart, let alone try to chat with them, especially when the place is busy, which it usually is when I go in.

Social reparte is not rewarded on either person's part by the other, at least often enough to make it worth the risk of an attempt. So, maybe we're "consumers" because that's all we usually want, and it becomes a habit. Price and convienience become more important than socializing, and we end up holding each other at arms length, at best.

At the worst, we do our socializing on-line. This keeps the risk at a minimum and the people at some large multiple of arm's length units.

It's all about cash flow,the importance of the participants, and from whose perspective it's viewed.

We went from customers to consumers when it stopped being about us buying things, and started being about corporations taking our money and tracking our spending. <b>B'OR</b> said it best - it's about wanting our <i>business</i> vs wanting our <i>money</i>.

Just yesterday I told the manager at my grocery store, "You know - I preferred the old , "How are you tonight, sir?" to the new, "Do you have your Kroger's card with you?"

What did the manager say?

He told me that cashiers are taught to welcome all customers <i>before</i> asking for their grocery card. He said it would be brought up at the next staff meeting, and thanked me for bringing it to his attention.